


All a Pack Needs is a Little Spark

by thornconnelly



Series: The Hale Spark [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, BAMF Stiles, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Emissary in Training Stiles Stilinski, Excessive Cursing, Fix-It, Found Family, Good Alpha Laura Hale, Like Stiles has other relationships before Sterek happens, M/M, Oral Sex, Panic Attacks, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Please don't get mad, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Slow Burn, Some chapters have more violence than others, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Sterek is end game, Stiles Stilinski Has Panic Attacks, Stiles Stilinski is a Nice Thing, but she doesn't actually appear, fork in the road, mentions of Kate Argent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:59:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 82,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25794010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thornconnelly/pseuds/thornconnelly
Summary: Fork in the road fix-it that basically changes everything starting... an hour before the show actually starts. idk.Stiles has a premonition that he NEEDS to go into the forest on a random night and interrupts Peter before he can kill Laura. Stiles doesn't know what he's gotten himself into, but he decides to help out the stray dog he finds in the woods, and then ends up joining a werewolf pack... as their Spark... because apparently he's got magic.What ensues is my whole-hearted desire for the Hales to have nice things.
Relationships: Danny Mahealani/Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Isaac Lahey/Stiles Stilinski
Series: The Hale Spark [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892299
Comments: 278
Kudos: 1529
Collections: Barnish1802, Sterek the good stuff, Teen wolf, TeenWolf





	1. Wolf Moon

**Author's Note:**

> A translation into [Portuguese](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27622514/chapters/67580882%22) is available!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some descriptions of blood and gore in this chapter.

Stiles threw his phone on his bed in frustration as he pulled his hoodie on. He had texted and called Scott like three times already and he wasn’t answering.

His stomach did that little twist thing that always meant something bad was going to happen, so he reached over and grabbed his phone and keys before running out of the house.

“Thank you, baby,” Stiles murmured to the Jeep as it started on the first try.

He wasn’t sure where he needed to go, but he was literally trusting his gut right now. He turned the radio up to try to drown out his thoughts, because whenever he got this feeling in his stomach he thought about that first time… the first time he felt like this, and had ignored the feeling, and then had to watch his mom die.

Now, now he jumped whenever he got this twisting feeling, and blindly followed his instincts. It didn’t happen much, but he had sworn never to ignore it again. One time, a kid had been lost in Target and he helped her find her parents. Another time his elderly neighbor across the street had fallen down and couldn’t call for help.

He slowed down a little as he turned onto the road heading into the Preserve, his thoughts catching up to the present. He hadn’t driven this way in a while, but there were no street lights so he figured he should be a little cautious.

The twisting feeling pulsed again though, so Stiles pushed harder on the gas pedal and sped up. He was leaning forward and squinting, which a part of his brain told him was absolutely stupid because that wasn’t going to help him see beyond the light of his headlights.

There was a slight turn in the road and then all of a sudden Stiles slammed on his brakes. He felt his bumper crash into something and cursed as the Jeep skidded to a stop. He must have just clipped the animal though, because before Stiles could put the car in park, the dark shape ran off into the woods. Stiles squinted. Had that been a deer? It was… odd shaped. But what else could it have been? It’s not like they had wolves or mountain lions or anything like that in Beacon Hills.

“Maybe it was a chupacabra,” Stiles mumbled to himself.

He hopped out of the car and walked around to look at the bumper. He didn’t think there was any serious damage to the car, but he could check it out at the very least. He froze as he came to the front of his car though.

There was a giant fucking bleeding dog in the middle of the road.

Had he hit the dog?

What had run off?

Had there been two dogs?

Stiles inched closer, and cursed softly as he saw the dog. It looked like something had slashed at it or maybe taken a bite out of the side. Or maybe a few bites. Blood was oozing from several different parts of the body, but the midsection was definitely the worst.

“I think those are intestines,” Stiles said, gagging.

The dog looked up at him and whined softly.

“Fuck it’s alive. Ok. Ok it’s alive. What do I do?” He stepped closer and squatted down to look at it. “Look, if I try to help you, will you bite me?” The dog stared at him levelly and Stiles cursed again. “Okay. I’m going to turn my car around and put you in my trunk, alright?” Stiles blinked a few times and could have sworn that the dog nodded at him. “This is what I get,” Stiles murmured to himself as he climbed back into his car and began to make a three-point turn. “I’m having a conversation with a half-dead giant dog in the Preserve. This is my life now.”

Stiles was grateful that he had a couple blankets in his trunk and he carefully spread them out before going back to the dog. “Look, I don’t know how much you can understand me, but picking you up is definitely going to hurt. I need you to not bite me, okay? I don’t have a belt or anything to tie your mouth shut,” the dog growled at that, “okay, so I won’t do that. Just… don’t bite me.”

Stiles inched closer to the dog slowly, placing his hands under its shoulders and legs. As he lifted, the dog let out a whine but Stiles was immensely grateful that it didn’t snap at him. Just as he lowered it into the trunk, he felt the dog wiggle a little, so he grasped it closer to make sure he didn’t drop it, but then all of a sudden everything started shifting and moving and within two heartbeats, there was a bloody, naked woman in Stiles’s arms. He yelped and put her down in his trunk a little harder than he had originally intended.

Stiles stared at the woman in horror and nearly screamed when she opened her eyes. “Take me to Deaton. Call Derek,” she mumbled before passing out. Stiles stared at her for a few more seconds with his mouth hanging open before he reached up and slammed his trunk shut.

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck,” he mumbled frantically as he got back into his car and started driving again.

Deaton’s veterinarian clinic wasn’t far from the Preserve, and he got there in under five minutes. Instead of parking out front where clients usually do, he went around to the back where Scott parked when he worked here. Stiles knew that Deaton lived behind the clinic in a house on the far end of the parking lot, so he figured if he wasn't still in the clinic (why would he be? It’s almost midnight), then at least he would probably be at home.

Stiles knocked on the clinic door, but wasn’t surprised when nobody answered. He ran up to the house and flailed when Deaton answered on his second knock. “Doc!” Stiles nearly shouted, “Sorry but you need to see what I’ve got in my trunk.”

Deaton stared warily at Stiles for a moment before he leaned out and glanced around the parking lot. “Stiles, there’s a 24-hour clinic at the other end of Beacon Hills. You can go there.”

“Deaton, she asked for you by name,” Stiles said solemnly.

The man flinched as if Stiles had struck him. “Laura?” he whispered. He pulled his door closed and pushed past Stiles, who had to run to keep up. They arrived at the car at the same time and Stiles yanked open the trunk door. The woman, Laura maybe, was still unconscious and Deaton groaned as he looked at her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, “Here,” he said as he pushed one particular key into Stiles’ hand. “Open the door and turn on the lights, I’ll carry her in.”

Stiles rushed to obey and closed the door behind Deaton once he came in. He laid the woman down on the table in the middle of the room and pulled the light above his head towards her, shining the spotlight onto her middle section.

“What happened?” Deaton asked, not taking his eyes off her body as he grabbed for supplies under the table.

“I was driving in the Preserve and I hit a thing that I thought was maybe a deer, and when I got out to look at my bumper, she was there in the road… except… except…”

Deaton looked up as Stiles as he struggled. “Except what?”

“Except she was a dog when I found her.”

He stared at Stiles for long seconds. “You saw her change?”

Stiles nodded slowly back, at a loss for words. Deaton didn’t seem surprised that she had changed so much as… surprised that Stiles had seen it?

“Deaton… what is she?”

The woman moaned and shifted on the table, which drew Deaton’s attention again. “She’s a werewolf,” he said curtly. He handed Stiles gloves, “Since you’re here, you can make yourself useful. Press this gauze into this wound on her shoulder. I’m going to have to clean this stomach wound and see where I can stitch it.”

Stiles complied silently. It wasn’t until he had fully followed Deaton’s directions that he spoke again, “Doc, sorry, but… you said she’s a werewolf? Is that… a normal thing?”

Deaton shook his head and then shrugged. “Normally, I wouldn’t tell you any of this. But since you saw her, it’s better for you to have the information than for you to go around talking to people because you’re confused. Werewolves exist, as do a variety of other so called supernatural creatures. Laura here is a werewolf, and while there aren’t many left here in Beacon Hills, the Hale pack used to be quite large.”

“Hale, like, Cora Hale? The Hale family? The ones who used to live in the Preserve until the house fire?”

Deaton nodded. “Cora would have been about your age, right? Laura here is the oldest. She’s one of the only remaining members of the pack. She and her brother, Derek, moved away after the fire.”

At the mention of her brother’s name, Laura’s eyes fluttered open. “Derek…” she murmured. “Call Derek.”

Stiles looked at Deaton helplessly. “Do you have Derek’s number?”

The vet nodded, not taking his eyes off Laura’s stomach as he was gently poking her. Stiles tried not to look too close because he was almost positive now that he could see organs. Or intestines. There was a huge difference between identifying cartoon pictures in a textbook in AP Bio class and seeing actual bloody organs up close. “It’s on a post-it note on my desk in the office. Behind you.” Deaton glanced at Laura’s shoulder where Stiles was pressing. “Gently pick that up, let’s see how she’s healing.”

Stiles cautiously lifted the gauze up and nearly dropped it when he saw that the skin which had been slashed when he placed the gauze on it was almost completely healed. It was still covered in blood, but the gash through her skin was almost completely closed up.

“Werewolves have heightened healing powers,” Deaton said as explanation. “Leave the gloves in the garbage can near the door before you go into the office.”

Stiles nodded and numbly followed his directions again. The post-it note was placed square in the center of the open space next to the keyboard, and Stiles pulled his phone out to call the number. After two rings, the call disconnected. Stiles glanced at the ceiling in frustration. He knew that many people wouldn’t pick up for a strange number. He dialed again.

Disconnected.

Dialed again.

Surely this Derek would realize that if someone was calling him multiple times in the middle of the night, there was a reason, right?

Derek finally picked up, “Wrong number,” he shouted and hung up again.

Stiles finally texted, “ _STOP FUCKING HANGING UP ON ME. LAURA TOLD ME TO CALL YOU. SHE’S HURT._ ”

Derek called a few seconds later and raged at Stiles. “What happened to Laura? Did you hurt her? I’ll kill you!”

“Dude, I don’t know what the fuck happened, but I’ve seen more blood and internal organs tonight than I ever have before in my life. I think I stopped whatever was hurting her in the first place and I’m at the vet’s office with Dr. Deaton right now and I don’t know what the fuck is happening, but Laura said to call you, so you threatening me is not helping right now.”

“Alan’s there? Put me on speakerphone.” Stiles did and took the few steps back into the room with Deaton.

“He wants to talk to you,” Stiles said with a shrug, holding the phone up between them.

“Hi Derek. I’m a little busy fixing up Laura, but I can hear you.”

“You think it was the omega she was looking for?”

“There’s no way an omega should have been able to do this,” Deaton said grimly. “Either there was more than one,” (“I only saw one thing in the woods” Stiles interrupted but was ignored), “or it caught her completely off-guard.”

“I’m on my way,” Derek growled. “It’ll take the better part of the night, but I’ll be there as soon as I can. Deaton how much does he know?” Derek asked. Stiles looked up at Deaton. Was Derek asking about Stiles?

“He saw her shift,” Deaton said with a resigned sigh. Stiles tried not to watch as Deaton started stitching pieces of Laura’s stomach together. “I explained the basics.”

“Do you trust him?”

“I’m right here, you know, and I have a name. It’s Stiles.” Stiles said indignantly.

“His best friend works for me,” Deaton replied as if Stiles hadn’t spoken. “And his father is the Sheriff. I think we can trust him not to talk.”

“Look, guys, if you’re wondering if I’ll spill the beans about werewolves, I promise I won’t. First, I mean, who would believe me?”

“You’re right,” Derek growled through the phone. “No one would believe you.”

Stiles’ phone beeped and he looked down to see an incoming call from Scott. “Look, Derek, my buddy is on the other line. Hold on.” Before Derek could reply, Stiles switched conversations. “Scotty boy, what’s up? You never call this late…”

Scott is panting through the phone and Deaton’s attention zeroed in on Stiles’s phone. “Hey I felt bad about abandoning you before, so I tried to catch up to you…”

Stiles was starting to get that bad feeling, similar to the one that drove him out of the house earlier tonight. “What happened Scott?”

“I was walking towards your house and this… weird thing. It was like… a german shepherd or a great dane, I guess? Or maybe a mountain lion? It knocked me over and bit me, and then ran away as soon as a car started coming up the block. I didn't really get a good look at it.”

“Fuck, Scotty, are you ok?”

Deaton grabbed the phone, “Scott, where are you now?”

“Dr. Deaton?” Scott’s confusion came through the phone clearly.

“Scott. Where are you?” Deaton repeated, completely deadpan.

“Um, outside of the 7/11 on the corner of Park.”

“Do not move,” Deaton said, rushing towards the door. He threw the phone back to Stiles. “Do not let him leave. And don’t let Laura leave if she wakes up. I’m going to get Scott.”

Stiles stared down at his phone and felt the world shift beneath him for like the fifth time tonight. Werewolves are real. And one attacked Laura tonight, who is also a werewolf. And then some weird mystery animal attacks Scott, and Deaton reacted that badly? And Deaton also knows all about werewolves, but somehow isn’t one?

“Hello? Stiles? Are you back?” Derek’s voice was coming through quietly. Scott must have hung up to switch the line back to Derek.

“You’re still there?” Stiles asked, bringing the phone back up to his ear.

“Yea. I figured you wouldn’t have put me on hold without a good reason. I’m on the way to the airport. What happened?”

“My best friend Scott was just bit by a weird thing that looked kind of like a giant dog. Deaton went to get him.”

“Fuck.”

“Yea,” Stiles responded. They both sat in silence for a minute. Stiles could hear the sounds of Derek driving: the engine, the blinker, and it reassured him a little. Those sounds were normal. “Are you a werewolf too?” He didn’t know why he asked it. But nothing made sense right now.

There was another minute of silence before Derek finally said, “Yea, Stiles. I am. I’m really sorry that we got you wrapped up in whatever is happening. But I’m also really glad you were there to save Laura.”

Stiles glanced over at her, “Deaton said that werewolves heal really quickly, and he’s right. He stitched her up a lot, and a lot of the wounds already look smaller. She’s barely even bleeding anymore.”

“I can’t believe this happened,” Derek said, sounding choked. “She’s all I have left.”

Stiles swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. “I know how you feel,” he said. “My dad is all I have left. If anything ever happened to him…” There was another minute of silence as Derek drove. “Where are you, by the way?”

“New York,” Derek responded. “I’m parking in JFK right now, and I’m hoping there will be a flight to Redding tonight, or maybe Sacramento?”

Stiles pulled up flight info on Google. “It looks like there’s a flight to Redding in um… an hour and a half. But shit, it’s almost $600.”

“That’s fine,” Derek grunted. “What airline?”

“Um Skywest?” Stiles asked, switching back and forth between different apps. “Did you pack anything with you?”

“No, I just ran out the door. Why?” Derek asked, and Stiles could hear a door slam.

“Do you have anything in your car?” Stiles asked quickly, “Even like a gym bag or something?” Derek grunted so Stiles continued, “Take it. Buying a last minute ticket and flying without any luggage sets up like a dozen different suspicious flags for the TSA.”

The sounds on Derek’s side of the phone died for a second before Stiles could hear him moving again. “Okay I do have my gym bag,” Derek commented. “How do you know what the TSA is looking for?”

Stiles shrugged, a pointless gesture, he knew, since Derek couldn’t see and Laura was still asleep. “I have trouble sleeping,” was Stiles’ simple answer. “I do a lot of research.” Lights flashed past the window and Stiles jumped up. “Derek I think Deaton is back with Scott.”

“Go. I have to go through security anyway. Will you text me if anything with Laura changes?”

“Definitely,” Stiles said as he opened the back door.

Deaton had one of Scott’s arms over his shoulder and he was helping him limp into the room. Scott blanched as he saw Laura’s naked, bloody body. “That way,” Deaton said as he pointed at another bench along one wall. Stiles rushed over and helped Scott to hop up onto the table.

“What happened to her?” He asked as he winced.

“It’s a long story,” Deaton said before Stiles even had the chance to open his mouth. “Let me check you out and then we can tell you.”

Scott had bite marks on his torso - side, stomach, and ribs. They were similar injuries that Laura had, but the beast had clearly had more time with Laura before being interrupted, so her injuries were a lot deeper and more severe. Laura was ripped and torn - Scott just has puncture marks, really. Deaton cleaned everything out as he and Stiles tried to explain things to and calm Scott down.

“He can’t go to school in the morning,” Deaton observed as he stitched Scott up and bandaged him.

“I’ll cut too then,” Stiles responded instantly. “It’ll look less suspicious if we’re both gone.”

“No, dude, you have to go in,” Scott responded, trying to sit up. Deaton just gently pushed him back down. “Your global test is tomorrow and you’re going to ace it. I’ll just tell my mom I don’t feel good. She’s working overnight at the hospital anyway, so as long as I’m home by midafternoon when she gets out, she won’t even notice.” Deaton looked like he was about to say something, “Dr. Deaton, I can’t stay here forever. Plus, when my mom gets home she’ll be so exhausted she won’t notice what’s wrong with me. I’ll just lay in bed to emphasize that I’m sick, she’ll kiss my forehead and offer to bring me more water or medicine, and then she’ll shower and pass out. It’s the safest option.”

Deaton and Stiles both nodded.

“ _Got my ticket and through security. How’s your friend?_ ”

“ _Not as bad as Laura_.” Stiles texted back. “ _He was just bit a couple times. She was torn. Sorry if that’s tmi_.” Then he had another thought, “ _Is Scott going to turn into a werewolf now?_ ”

Stiles had been too afraid to ask Deaton, but it was somehow easier to text Derek. Faceless, far away, stranger Derek. He could handle whatever answer he got from him. If Deaton had said yes or no, Stiles wouldn’t have known how to react at that moment.

“ _Almost definitely not. If it’s the omega, then he won’t turn and he’ll be totally fine, other than a few scars. But if it was an alpha, then we have to hope that he turns. But Laura didn’t say anything about a new alpha in the area, and she was there to investigate a rogue omega._ ”

Stiles took a deep breath in relief, but then paused. “ _What do you mean we’ll have to hope?_ ”

There was a long period of nothing as if Derek were choosing the words he typed back carefully. “ _If someone is bitten by an alpha, they either change and become a werewolf, or they die_.”

Well there’s that for beating around the bush, Stiles thought to himself. “ _Shit. Thanks for telling me._ ” Stiles thought for a few more minutes before he added, “ _Scott works for Deaton, btw. So I’ve seen him like 100 times. He’s talked more tonight than ever before. And he still hasn’t told me as much as you have.”_

“ _Tell that to Laura when she wakes up. She always makes fun of me for being too reserved_.”

“ _Really? You haven’t seemed reserved tonight._ ”

“ _Maybe it was the panic in the beginning. But you’re easy to talk to_.”

Stiles grinned down at his phone and then felt silly and sort of disrespectful. Laura had almost died tonight and Scott had been attacked, and they were both just a few feet away from him. He shouldn’t be smiling. But there was something about Derek. His voice had seemed so compelling, and Stiles appreciated that he was answering all of his questions quickly and honestly. And he knew that he babbled and talked a lot, but no one had ever said that he was easy to talk to. Usually they got annoyed that Stiles was talking too much, but he didn’t seem to be bothering Derek.

Stiles lifted his head suddenly when he heard a far-off siren. “Fuck. Deaton, I have to get home before my dad or he’ll notice that I’m not in bed. Will… will Scott and Laura be okay?”

Deaton nodded over the different things he was cleaning. “Write your cell number on that white board before you leave. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

He waved to Scott on the way out and drove home carefully. He snuck into the house silently, even though he could see that his dad wasn’t home yet. He threw his clothing directly into the washing machine and went through the rest of the house in just his underwear, and then showered quickly, changed into pajamas and brushed his teeth, but paused for a minute to stare at his reflection in the mirror.

He looked the same as he had earlier, but he felt like an entirely different person.

He had acted on his gut feeling. And now, he had hit a werewolf with his car, saved another werewolf, in the process seeing entirely too many of her internal organs and getting covered in blood, talked to a third werewolf on the phone as he traveled across the country, and then worried about his best friend after he was bitten by the first werewolf.

It had been a crazy night. And now he had to go to sleep and then go to school in the morning as if nothing weird had happened.

“ _You’re easy to talk to too. Good luck on the flight,_ ” Stiles texted Derek. “ _I’m going to sleep since I can’t actually help any more at this point._ ”

“ _Sleep_.” Derek texted back instantly. “ _I’ll check on Scott as soon as I get there and I’ll let you know how he’s doing_.”

Stiles was expecting tonight to be just like every other night when he struggled to sleep, but instead he was unconscious seconds after hitting his pillow.

His alarm woke him in the morning and he glanced at the texts from Derek.

“ _Landed in Redding._ ” and “ _Scott is entirely human. His wounds will take a while to heal, so he’ll need to be on light duty for the next few weeks so he doesn’t attract attention_ ” and the last one that was sent only 45 minutes ago, “ _Laura is finally awake. She wants to talk to you if you have time_.”

Stiles glanced at the time. He would be able to make it to school on time as long as he didn’t talk to Laura for too long. He threw some clean clothing on, brushed his teeth, and grabbed a granola bar as he ran out the door. He dialed Derek’s number as he was driving.

“Hello?” Derek’s voice sounded more tired than it had the night before.

“Hey Derek. I’m heading over to the clinic now. Are you guys still there?”

“Yea. Deaton put the ‘closed’ sign on the front door, so just come around the back. I’ll let you in.”

“Okay. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Stiles hung up and felt nervous for a second. He had spoken with and texted Derek all night, but now he felt weirdly nervous about meeting him. Laura had looked terrible last night, but even through all the blood, Stiles could tell that she was young and beautiful. What if Derek was also young and beautiful? What if he wasn’t? Stiles continued to make himself more anxious about it while he drove until he finally came and parked in the lot.

He hopped out of his car just as the back door opened and the most stunning adonis of a human being stepped into the parking lot. Stiles felt his mouth fall open and forcibly snapped it shut. Derek’s eyes matched his pale green shirt that clung to his muscular chest and shoulders. Derek’s eyes widened as he took Stiles in too.

“You’re Stiles?” He asked, stepping closer.

Stiles nodded, realizing that Derek was about an inch taller than himself. “Derek?”

“Yea,” he breathed out before reaching out and pulling Stiles in for a hug. “She would have died if it hadn’t been for you.” Derek’s voice came out muffled since his face was buried in Stiles’ neck. Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek’s (gorgeous, muscled, stunning) back.

Deaton stuck his head out the door. “Derek?”

Derek picked his head up out of Stiles’ neck, wiping quickly at his eyes. Stiles patted Derek’s back as they both walked towards the door.

Laura was sitting up on the counter with her back propped against the wall. She was wearing clothes, thankfully, but was still very pale. She reached out a hand as he approached and grasped his hand in both of hers. “Thank you so much Stiles.” Her voice was strong and powerful, nothing like the quiet rasp from last night. “I’m sorry for everything that you experienced last night. I know it couldn’t have been easy to bear. I owe you after all you’ve done for me.”

Stiles nodded, not quite sure what to do with himself or what to say. He could feel Derek’s presence close behind him, and that helped him feel comfortable enough to speak. “You’re welcome. I mean, of course. I mean, I just had the feeling I had to do something… and the last time I ignored a feeling like that… Well… I swore to myself I wouldn’t ignore those feelings again.”

Deaton appeared at his side. “What feelings?”

Stiles shrugged and glanced at Derek. He had been standing just beside Stiles, well within the personal space bubble, but somehow it comforted Stiles. It felt comfortable and right somehow to have him that close. “Sometimes I get these feelings. Like…” he gestured just below his solar plexus, “right here. They’re kind of a mix between a stomach ache and that tingly feeling when your legs go numb. But it’s always right before something bad happens. I’ve… stopped a couple bad things from happening, I think, like that time my neighbor’s toddler fell in their pool. I got there just as she fell in and I was able to pull her out before she swallowed too much water or anything.”

“What happened the last time you ignored the feeling?” Deaton asked, leaning towards Stiles.

Stiles looked down at his feet. He was still ashamed of that and didn’t want to tell them. Derek reached out and held onto his shoulder and smiled faintly when Stiles looked up at him. “My mom died,” he finally whispered, looking back down at his shoes. “She was in the hospital and was sick. I had the weird feeling, and I wanted to call the nurse, but I was too afraid to leave her side so I just kept holding her hand. Then the machines started making all these noises and she started convulsing… Later, I heard one of the doctors tell my dad that if they had gotten to her earlier, they would have been able to help her more.” Stiles shook his head, wiping tears from his eyes. “I know she was sick, but she might have lived longer, or maybe just died more peacefully if I had done something.”

Derek reached his arm around the front of Stiles’ chest and pulled him flush against his chest in a half-hug, so Stiles was still facing Laura and Deaton, but he had Derek’s support at his back. Laura shifted and held onto Stiles’ hand again, although she looked pained as she moved. “I’m so sorry Stiles. That sounds absolutely terrible.”

Deaton nodded, apparently not intending to express the sympathy that Laura and Derek were. He walked to the other side of the room and took out a small metal canister. He came a few steps closer and said, “Stiles, catch,” before throwing a cloud of gray powder at him. The powder sparkled as it flew towards him, growing into an ever bigger cloud as it traveled across the room towards Stiles, Laura, and Derek. Stiles flung up his free hand as a reflex and somehow the powder all condensed into his hand, roughly the size of a tennis ball.

“What… the fuck?” Stiles asked, glancing up at Deaton. “How did…?” He studied the ball in his hand. He could see that it was definitely still powder, not quite a solid, but it wasn’t acting like powder was supposed to.

“Alan, did you really just throw mountain ash at us?” Laura asked with a note of anger in her voice.

“I suspected he would be able to catch it,” Deaton said simply.

Derek shifted so he could move Stiles’ around and look at him. Stiles still held the ball of mountain ash, whatever that was, in his open palm. “You’re a Spark?” Derek asked with wonder in his voice.

Stiles shrugged. “I don’t know what that means.”

“It means that you and I have a lot of work to do,” Deaton said. “Do you have a job, Stiles?”

Stiles blinked a few times at the sudden change of topic. It was too early for this. “No. Why?”

“Because I think that I need more help around the clinic. You’ll start working… three afternoons a week. I’ll pay you the same as I pay Scott. How does that sound?

“Um… fantastic. But why?”

Deaton reached out his hand, and even though he was standing across the room, the ball of mountain ash floated out of Stiles’ hand and returned to the canister in Deaton’s hand. “Because I am going to teach you all of the magic I know.”

Stiles' phone suddenly dinged and when he glanced at it he cursed. “I have to leave. My test starts in fifteen minutes. I… I can’t focus on this right now.”

“Come back later today,” Deaton said simply. “We’ll bring Scott to his house once he wakes up.”

Stiles nodded and waved at the room as he ran out the door.


	2. First Day of the Rest of Your Life

“Alan you couldn’t have broken that to him any easier?” Laura asked as she shifted on the table and grimaced. “You might as well have said, ‘You’re a wizard, Harry.’”

Derek watched as the baby blue Jeep drove away. “I hope he can focus on his test. I know I wouldn’t be able to concentrate after all this.”

“I’m going to go check on Scott,” Deaton said, again ignoring everything they’d said to him.

Derek turned back to Laura and hopped up onto the counter so she could lean on him. They had been sitting like that until Stiles had arrived; the pack bond strengthened both of them, and right now Laura needed all of the help she could get.

“I’m almost surprised he could look me in the eye,” Laura said. “I was in pretty atrocious shape last night, not to mention being completely naked.”

“He seems really special,” Derek commented. “And I get the feeling that he’s more curious than afraid of all of this.”

Laura nodded thoughtfully. “Hey help me over to Alan’s desktop. I’m going to do some research and you should take a nap.”

“Before that, I was thinking about grabbing breakfast sandwiches for all of us. And I’ll buy you a new phone while I’m out. Then I’ll nap.”

Laura kissed Derek’s temple. “You’re the best baby brother an alpha could ever ask for.”

Derek blinked seriously at her. “You know that I’m not.”

Laura wrapped her arms around him as he helped her off the counter. “But you are. And I’m going to keep repeating it until you believe it.” Laura limped over to Alan’s desk and Derek helped her gingerly lower herself onto the chair. She patted his cheek before he stood up. “Don’t bother getting an expensive phone. Just any old thing will do.”

Derek bounced back and forth between the phone store and the deli while they set up Laura’s phone. He ate a whole sandwich while he waited for them to make a few more. He ducked into the Rite Aid next door also and bought a small wardrobe from their cheap clothing section. Laura was going to hate all of it, but at least it would fit her better than Deaton’s spare scrubs did.

Derek had thought for a second about asking Stiles if he could borrow some of his clothes simply so that he could carry that amazing cinnamon and fresh grass scent around with him, but had instantly decided that would be too weird. Stiles might be handling the knowledge of werewolves better than any human Derek had ever seen before, but everyone had a limit.

Derek swung back to pick up the sandwiches and coffees, then Laura’s new phone and extra chargers, and then he finally made it back to the clinic. Laura gratefully took the food and coffee, and wrinkled her nose at the clothing he showed her. “It looks like something a fifty year old divorcee would wear while going on vacation.”

“It’s better than nothing,” Derek said with a grin. “Once you’re fully up on your feet, you can go buy whatever your heart desires. But at least now you have something to wear when you go shopping.”

She shrugged and continued eating. Healing as fast as she was took a lot of energy, and Derek knew she’d be able to eat at least three of the sandwiches he brought. Derek went to check on Alan and Scott, who had apparently just woken up. “I got breakfast sandwiches,” Derek said, holding up the paper bag.

Scott grinned, “They smell great!”

“We’re going to help you sit up,” Alan said slowly. Derek nodded and put the bag down. Scott moved slowly and only winced a few times as he moved. “Now, Scott, please don’t move at all unassisted for now. And you need to be careful with all of your movements for the next week or so. If you rip a stitch out, you’ll start bleeding and then people might ask questions. We very much want to avoid questions.”

Scott nodded and Alan left to go do whatever mysterious veterinarian/druids do in their clinics when they’re closed but occupied by multiple injured people. Derek picked the bag of sandwiches up and offered it to Scott. He took one with a grin and opened it to start eating.

“Deaton was just telling me that Stiles has some kind of magic?” Scott asked, his mouth still full.

Derek pulled another sandwich out for himself and sat on a chair near Scott. “Yea,” Derek agreed. “And Alan said he can teach Stiles how to use the magic, in the afternoons, when you’re working I think.”

“I always thought Stiles was kind of… joking when he talked about trusting his feelings. I mean… it’s not like people can tell the future, right?” Scott laughed, “Well, I mean, if you had asked me yesterday if werewolves were real, I would have definitely said no, so what do I know?”

Derek chuckled. “I don’t know that anyone can truly tell the future. As far as I understand, it can’t be read because probabilities are constantly changing. But some people do have imminent premonitions, which kind of sounds like what Stiles experiences.” Derek’s phone buzzed while he was talking and he smiled when he saw that Stiles had texted him.

“ _I think I aced my test. Am I a magician? How’s Scott?_ ”

“ _Good job on the test. Magicians aren’t real. A Spark is sort of like a Druid, but honestly I’m unclear on the differences. Alan will need to explain them, probably in some sort of vague way. And Scott and I are eating breakfast together right now._ ”

“Who are you texting?” Scott asked.

“Stiles,” Derek said, looking back up at Scott. “Can we take a selfie together?” Scott nodded as Derek leaned over and snapped a pic of the two of them to send to Stiles.

-

When Stiles saw the picture of Scott and Derek grinning at the camera, he almost dropped his phone. This human being who was clearly the most attractive man on the planet seemed to like Stiles for whatever reason. Maybe the overwhelming gratitude was driving him to act so friendly with Stiles. He shrugged. Whatever the reason was, Stiles was going to enjoy it for as long as it lasted.

“What are you grinning at, Stilinksi?” The kid in front of him was leaning back over his chair to get a better look at his phone. Stiles whipped it back and shut the screen off. “What, your girlfriend send a nude?”

“Jackson, shut the hell up,” Stiles grumbled.

“Stiles has a girlfriend?” Jackson’s girlfriend, Lydia asked. Stiles scowled. He had had a crush on Lydia since fifth grade, but her boyfriend was the absolute worst. Not only was he a dick, but he was also unfairly attractive, a detail that had made Stiles start to really question his sexuality a few years back.

“No way.” Jackson laughed.

“Guys, leave Stiles alone,” Jackson’s best friend, Danny, said from in front of Jackson. “He’s allowed to smile at his phone. You’re the one making it weird Jackson.” Stiles shot a grateful smile at Danny around Jackson.

“What, I can’t be curious about the lives of my team members?” Jackson asked with an asshole smile.

“Not when you’re being weird about it,” Danny replied with a laugh. “Asking what he’s smiling at isn’t necessarily weird. But assuming it’s a nude… and then trying to look at it is. Were you raised in a barn?”

Jackson laughed and swatted at Danny, but turned around and ignored Stiles for the rest of class. At the end of class, Jackson slung an arm around Lydia’s shoulder and walked out. Stiles jumped to walk out with Danny behind them.

“Hey man, thanks for that before,” he said under his breath to Danny.

Danny crooked a smile and shrugged one shoulder. “Dude it’s no problem. I know Jackson can be a pain sometime.”

Stiles snorted. “Yea sometimes.”

“You trying out for lacrosse again this season?” Danny asked.

“Yea I’ll be there this weekend.” Stiles answered with a shrug of his own. “But if I don’t start I might quit this year. I don’t need to sit on the bench the whole time.”

“Dude, don’t quit!” Danny reached out and touched Stiles’ forearm. “I’m sure you’ll start this year. Remember there were a bunch of seniors on the team last year? They’re gone now so we’re going to need a bunch of people.” Stiles grinned down at Danny’s hand, and he removed it with a rueful smile. “Sorry. I know I get handsy sometimes.”

Stiles bumped him gently with his elbow, “Don’t worry. I don’t mind.”

The rest of school dragged by, even though Derek sent a laughing emoji in response to Stiles’ question about if he could use magic to make his lunch taste better, but eventually Stiles was able to make it through. As soon as the last period bell rang, Stiles called his dad, who picked up on the 4th ring.

“Hey Stiles, how’s it going?”

“Pretty good dad. Listen, I wanted to ask you about something yesterday but I forgot.”

“I’m really sorry I got stuck at work so late. There were a bunch of weird calls.”

Stiles grimaced, wondering if any of them had been weird animal reports, or if anyone else had been attacked by the omega. “Don’t worry. It’s not a big deal, but Scott mentioned that Dr. Deaton wants to hire someone else to help out at the clinic, and I wanted to go by now to see if he’d hire me.”

“Hey that’s a great idea kiddo,” his dad replied, sounding genuinely happy. “But I drove by the clinic just before and the sign said it was closed.”

“Oh that’s weird,” Stiles said, crossing his fingers. “I called him during lunch and he said I could come by. Maybe he’s just catching up on paperwork or something like that.”

“It’s worth checking out.” Stiles’ dad answered. He seemed to think for a minute before adding, “Hey if you get a job, does that mean I don’t have to give you an allowance anymore?”

“Ha ha ha, dad.” Stiles mock laughed. “But honestly, yea. If I can make some money, I know that will help us out, and maybe I can save some of it for college too.”

“But you have to keep your grades up,” his dad said seriously. “School is the main priority for now.”

“Of course.”

“Alright. Stiles, I’m sorry but I’ve got to get back to work.”

“No problem dad. Love you.”

“Love you too Stiles.”

“ _How are you doing?_ ” Stiles texted Scott.

“ _My bed is the best._ ” Scott texted instantly. “ _I’m going back to sleep. Derek gave me like three water bottles, granola bars, and a bunch of apples. I’m not leaving this bed until I have to pee_ ”

“ _Love you bro_ ,” Stiles texted grinning, not expecting to get a response anytime soon.

He drove to Deaton’s clinic with the radio playing loudly. It helped him sometimes to have music drowning out his thoughts. Right now he didn’t know what to think, so the absence of thought was better than the constant useless cycling his brain had been doing all day.

-

When he heard Stiles’ Jeep pulling into the parking lot, Derek got up from his seat next to Laura and went to open the back door again. Stiles grinned and waved as he hopped out of the car and Derek smiled back. As Stiles got closer, Derek was able to focus on his scent, and he decided that part of it must be that he was a Spark--there was no other reason for him to smell that good. Once Stiles was within range, Derek reached out and pulled him in for a hug. Derek chastised himself. He had been thinking about Stiles all day long and had convinced himself that he would play it cool and not come on too strong, and here he was, immediately unable to keep his hands off Stiles.

“Hey dude, how’s Laura doing?” Stiles asked as he wrapped his arms around Derek’s waist.

“She’s fantastic,” Derek said, letting go reluctantly and stepping back a little. “She’s been walking around and stretching the past hour. Come on in, Alan is waiting for you.”

Laura stepped into the doorway and smiled. She reached her arms out and Stiles stepped into her hug slowly and carefully. She laughed as she wrapped her arms around his back. “I appreciate the care now, but once I’m fully healed I don’t want you always tip-toeing around me, alright?”

“You’re going to keep me around?” Stiles asked, sounding both eager and confused. He looked between the two Hale siblings. Hugging seemed to be a thing for them.

“Of course. I owe you my life. Plus I’ve never known such a young Spark.” Her smile turned mischievous. “Wait until Alan tells you all the stories about Sparks, and then once he’s told you everything he thinks is necessary, you can call me and I’ll tell you the rest.” She stepped back from Stiles and turned towards Derek. “I want to check out the old house before it gets dark, and then I’d like to check into that motel down the block, and then if we have time, maybe buy some clothing from an actual clothing store.”

Stiles laughed, “You mean you don’t always like to dress like the ladies who play Bingo on Tuesday mornings?”

Laura punched weakly at Stiles’ shoulder and turned to Derek, “See?”

Derek covered his face and blushed, “It was literally the only option nearby.”

Stiles turned to Laura as his grin faded, “Also, by the way, I’m assuming you had a car? Maybe clothing or a phone or something? Do you know where those things went? I was just thinking before that if someone finds a bloody pile of clothing near an abandoned car, they’re definitely going to call the police, which, by the way, my dad’s the Sheriff. So if we don’t want him to investigate you… you should probably get those things while you’re out.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said thoughtfully, before she turned back to Derek. “Let me do one more thing inside, and then we’ll leave.”

Derek nodded and followed as Laura and Stiles went into the clinic. Alan looked up when he saw Stiles. “Oh good. Here is your timecard and here are the forms you need to fill out. I don’t want anyone questioning why you’re here so regularly, so everything needs to be the same as Scott on paper.”

Stiles nodded and sat down to start filling out the paperwork. Laura returned a minute later and waved, “We’ll probably be back in a while. Stiles if we’re not back yet, will you text one of us before you leave? I’m a little nervous that the omega might come after your car since you’re the one who hit it yesterday. I’m almost positive it won’t come out during the day, but there’s a chance it will again tonight.”

Stiles nodded, “And I’ll text you if I have any more feelings.”

She grinned widely, “How’d you know I was going to ask that too?”

“I’m psychic, remember?” Stiles said, clearly distracted by the forms but also grinning at his own joke.

Laura was laughing as she walked out the door. Derek had a moment to be grateful that he had rented a Camaro in Redding because Laura would have had a hard time climbing up into Stiles’ Jeep. After they got situated, Laura turned to Derek, “Before we drive, I wanted to talk about one thing.” Derek leaned back and nodded. “I can tell that you’re drawn to Stiles, and I get it. He feels special even to me, but do you know how old he is?”

Derek shrugged, “Like 19? I figure he’s probably like a freshman at BHCC.” Laura’s expression changed and Derek suddenly felt uneasy. “What? How old is he?”

“Seventeen.”

Derek was glad she had begun this conversation before he started driving. All of the air left his lungs and he felt like he had been kicked by a horse. “Seventeen? He’s still in high school?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s a junior,” Laura said, her voice containing a level of sympathy that pained him. “So is Scott.”

“But…” Derek dropped his hands into his face. He refused to be like Kate. He would never, ever, ever be like her. A tiny voice in his head whispered, 'But what does it mean that you’re attracted to a high schooler?' No no no no no. “Maybe it’s just like you said,” Derek finally said, looking up at Laura. “He’s a Spark and I must be responding to that. There’s nothing else going on.” He nodded his head. He was saying it out loud, so that would be the truth.

Laura nodded slowly, still looking concerned. “That’s probably for the best.”

-

Just as Stiles finished filling out the paperwork, Deaton appeared at his side. “So our main focus will obviously be about training your spark, but I think it’s also important that you know how to do Scott’s job, just in case anyone asks, or if someone comes in and I need to leave you alone. It would look suspicious if you just sat there and did nothing while I was seeing a patient.”

Stiles nodded. “I have about one million questions, but I’m going to do my best to wait and not pester you.”

“I appreciate that,” Deaon said with a small smile. “How good are you at multitasking?”

Stiles grinned in return. “Depending on what it is, excellent.”

Deaton nodded and walked into the back room. He pointed at a small stack of books. “These are for you. I have my own copies, so you can annotate or do whatever you want to them. It would be a good idea not to lose them or leave them lying around, because people might ask difficult questions.”

“‘Magical Herbs’ and ‘Werewolves, Shape-Shifters, Thunderbirds, and other North American Creatures’?” Stiles read the titles of the first two books out loud. “Couldn’t I just say they’re fiction?”

Deaton shrugged. “You could say whatever you want. I still think it’s a good idea to prevent too many people from seeing them and connecting them with you.”

“No argument there,” Stiles replied.

“Now, I’m a Druid,” Deaton said as he handed Stiles a mop and directed him towards the closet with cleaning chemicals and supplies. “And you’re not. I’ve never actually taught a Spark before, so it might take us a little while to work out all the details of how to use your magic. Druids draw their magic from the natural balance of the world. Sparks are their own independent magical source.” Stiles listened and mopped while Deaton cleaned off all of the surfaces in the room. Stiles noted where he got that specific cleaner from too, since he assumed that would be one of his hypothetical jobs too. “Both of us can use different herbs and materials to strengthen our magics, the mountain ash you caught this morning being one of them.”

Stiles opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, remembering his promise to hold off on questions. Deaton smiled, “Do you want to know more about the mountain ash?”

“Desperately,” Stiles answered with a laugh.

“It comes from the Mountain Ash tree, which is believed by many cultures to protect against the supernatural. This building is lined with ash wood, which makes it hard for people like Laura or Derek to give me any trouble, not that I expect the two of them to. The powder is used to create temporary or portable barriers. Since you already have a feel for the powder, I’d like to start practicing with it today. Also, do you have any experience mediating?”

Stiles blinked a few times, both at the amount of information Deaton had dropped on him and the sudden change in subject. “No, I’ve never tried to meditate before. I’d love to start actually practicing something. And how could Derek and Laura even come in here if the building is lined with Mountain Ash?”

“Alright. We’ll meditate first, while it’s still quiet here. Then even if Laura and Derek get back while we’re practicing with the Mountain Ash, they won’t distract you too much. And they were able to come in because I opened the door for them, which broke the barrier. It’s a little like an electrical current. The magic only works when it’s fully connected.”

-

Laura and Derek came back as Stiles tried to hold in his frustration. So far he hadn’t actually succeeded at doing anything with the mountain ash besides catch it that morning.

Deaton pulled Laura aside so he could look at her wounds, which seemed to be the barest of red scars at this point. Stiles focused on picking up the mountain ash and putting it back into its container. He had to acknowledge that he was probably using magic to do this, since he was picking up powder with his fingertips… and no powder he had ever seen responded so well to this pinching method Deaton had shown him. It was almost like his fingers were magnets and the powder was little metal shavings.

"Can we take you guys out to dinner?” Laura asked, as she walked into the bathroom with bags of clothing.

Deaton politely refused, but Stiles agreed. “If we’re done here, Deaton?” He nodded, and Stiles continued, “My dad said he’s working late again tonight, so I’m on my own for dinner anyway.”

“Keep practicing with that ash,” Deaton said as Stiles finally stood up with his full container.

He looked towards Derek, half expecting a hug now that he was done handling the messy ash, and tried not to feel disappointed when Derek took out his phone. Laura came out of the bathroom a minute later dressed in what Stiles assumed was her normal style, dark jeans with a fitted t-shirt and a cropped jacket. Stiles grinned and gave her a thumbs up, and she pulled him in for a hug. Stiles gladly returned it, but felt the burn of Derek ignoring him even more. He was being ridiculous, he told himself, they’d only met, and had only hugged like, three times. It’s not like it was even normal yet.

Stiles followed Derek’s Camaro with his Jeep so he could go home after dinner. He was glad when he saw Derek pull into his favorite burger place. Stiles tried to figure out why Derek was acting differently. He doubted himself- he’d only known Derek for like 12 hours, not counting their shouting phone call and texting. So… what was different? He seemed quieter, at least, but Stiles remembered Derek’s comment about Laura making fun of him for being reserved. So maybe this was just normal Derek, and he had only been so effusive earlier because of the trauma and relief.

Once they got a table, Laura asked Stiles to summarize what Deaton had told him, so that she wouldn’t repeat too much.

“That’s actually pretty clear of an explanation,” Laura acknowledged. “I was a little afraid he would just say, ‘It’s magic,’ and then make you meditate for five hours.”

Stiles laughed, “We did actually meditate.”

“See?” Laura laughed too. “Sparks are really rare, too. Did he mention that?”

“He said he had never trained one before… but I wasn’t sure if that was just him or if there aren’t a lot of us.”

“Werewolf packs seek them out too, because a Spark strengthens the entire pack” Laura added, her tone changing slightly. “A pack, by the way, is any group of werewolves united by an Alpha. Our mom used to be Alpha, and now I am. Our pack is just the two of us.” Laura looked over at Derek, who nodded. “And we’d like to invite you to be part of our pack too.”

Stiles felt the gravitas of the moment, and wasn’t sure how to react to something so seemingly important. “Is this type of thing usually discussed over curly fries?” Maybe a joke would help him navigate through this.

“We could put it in writing if you’d like,” Derek said quietly, and Stiles wasn’t quite sure if he was joking.

“No, no, I mean, of course I want to help out. I don’t know that I’m any good at anything yet. But of course. I feel a connection to both of you already, even if I don’t really get it.”

Laura grinned and leaned forward. “It’s your magic connecting with our pack bond. You could separate from us, break the bond if you want, but we’re all stronger together.”

“And you don’t mind… I mean…” Stiles shook his head as if that would sort the thoughts out at all. He took a deep breath and looked up again. Laura and Derek were both watching him with twin expressions… looking both patient and hesitant. “Can I ask something that’s maybe kind of insensitive?”

Derek’s eyebrows scrunched together but Laura nodded.

“Do you want me to be part of your pack because you’re desperate or because you actually want me?”

Derek let out a sharp breath that wasn’t quite a laugh and Laura grinned slightly before answering. “Honestly, a little of both. Our wolves like you, so as much as we really don’t know each other a whole lot, we trust you already. Besides the fact that you went through all that trouble to save my life, so you’re obviously a good person.” She took a deep sigh and exchanged looks with Derek before continuing, “And also we need the help. This land is still technically ours, even though we haven’t spent much time here in the past few years. We want to move back here and reclaim our territory, but it will be a struggle with just the two of us. And I came back because Deaton thought there had been a rogue omega… except whatever attacked me last night, no regular omega should have been able to do that to me.”

“Alphas are stronger and more powerful than regular betas, who are stronger than omegas,” Derek explained quietly. “Except a lot of our strength comes from the pack, and since it’s just the two of us…”

“You need more members,” Stiles concluded.

Laura nodded solemnly. “Ideally, eventually, we’ll recruit or bite more people. But for now, having you as a Spark in our pack would be huge.”

“What about Deaton?”

Derek scowled again and Stiles marveled that his eyebrows could carry so much expression in them. “He claims that he has to remain neutral in order to maintain his balance with the world.”

“He’s also not a Spark,” Laura pointed out. “He’s a druid. Your magic comes from within you while his comes from nature. So your power would help us because it would boost our own connection and strength, while his only balances what already exists.”

Stiles looked down at his food, which was mostly just fries at this point. “I’m going to need time to process all of this.”

“Of course. And we’ll work with you and give you as much time as you need,” Laura answered.

“What about Scott?”

“What about him?” Derek asked, crossing his arms over his (beautiful) chest.

“Well, I mean, he knows about all of this,” Stiles said while pointing a fry at Derek before flipping it around and eating it. “Even if he isn’t going to turn, he’s still part of this now… right?” Stiles looked between Laura and Derek’s faces. “Can packs have normal human pack members?”

Laura nodded slowly, reaching out to take one of Stiles’ fries. He was impressed that she had eaten her entire plate before he had. “They definitely can. It’s just not common for a pack as small as ours to have them.”

“Would he be a liability?” Stiles asked frankly.

Derek and Laura exchanged glances again, and Stiles marveled at their conflicting expressions. Laura’s eyebrows might be less dramatic than Derek’s, but they were still impressive.

“Okay, so look, he would obviously be a liability,” Stiles said reasonably. “He’s going to be slower and weaker than you two, right? And he won’t have whatever benefit my Spark gives me. But there have got to be other assets, right?”

“Having Scott know what’s going on, even if he isn’t Pack does make sense,” Derek said reluctantly. “Since you’ll be spending so much time with Deaton, but not actually doing all of the same work as Scott… if he knows then you won’t have to waste time lying and sneaking around.”

“Well, at least I won’t have to lie to him,” Stiles pointed out. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be lying to my dad nonstop.”

Derek winced, “Probably.”

Laura glanced around, “Actually, I was thinking about that before. Can we say that last night my car broke down, say around 7? And you helped me out? Because that would be a plausible reason for me to take you out to dinner, right?”

“I was coming home from Scott’s around that time,” Stiles nodded, taking a sip of his drink. “On West street? Near that abandoned gas station?”

Laura nodded, smiling. “That’s plausible, right?”

Stiles nodded, starting to grin. “Also, I’m taking four AP tests next month. Any chance either of you could tutor me?”

“I double majored in Education and World History,” Derek said in a somewhat choked voice. “I’d definitely be qualified to tutor you. I just graduated in January.”

“Perfect,” Stiles replied. “And not sure if it makes you feel better or worse, but I don’t need actual tutoring. The only reason I don’t have 100s in those classes is because I fall asleep a couple times a week. The material itself is a breeze.”

“You think four AP classes are a breeze?” Derek asked, his eyebrows shooting up.

Stiles chewed on his straw, sad that he had finished his drink. “Yea. The teachers are just boring. You should see this girl in my classes, Lydia. If it weren’t for her, I’d definitely be the valedictorian. But anyway, she gets bored in class too, so she’s been teaching herself Latin. Like, successfully. She’s translated like all of Hypatia for fun this semester.”

“I don’t even know who that is,” Laura admitted.

“She was a Roman mathematician,” Derek explained. Laura nodded, impressed.

“Right, so this is a ‘thanks for saving me’ dinner, and while talking, I mention that I want some help preparing for the AP tests. Since I’m starting a part-time job, I definitely don’t want my grades to slip,” Stiles recapped. “So we start hanging out,” Stiles said, gesturing between himself and Derek.

“Tutoring,” Derek corrected, pointing a finger at Stiles. “Hanging out is different from tutoring.”

“Sure, whatever,” Stiles agreed, waving a fry. “But that explains why we talk. And I guess… Laura we just talk because we bonded when I rescued you since I’m so awesome and we see each other every once in a while when Derek tutors me, so there’s that.”

“I like him,” Laura said to Derek.

Stiles beamed at her.

“Okay, now that that’s settled,” Stiles said, leaning forward, “is there any specific type of waiting period or person that you might be interested in recruiting? Deaton said there were no other wolves around other than whatever that omega thing is, so that means you’ll have to bite new ones, right? We should start scoping them out so we don’t choose the wrong person.”

“You’re jumping into this really fast,” Derek said with a scowl.

Stiles reached across the table and nudged at Derek’s arm where it was crossed over his chest again. “You’re new so you don’t know that this is a normal Stiles trait. I’m all or nothing. Once something catches my attention, I’m all in.”

Laura put a hand out as if to slow them down. “There’s no official waiting period, although we don’t want to bite anyone new until we deal with this omega. We want to be able to devote time to helping them develop their control without the additional threat of the omega, and we’ll definitely want to only bite one person at a time, and no more than two or three in the first year.” Stiles grinned widely at her, soaking in all of the information. “Choosing a person is tough, because we want it to be someone young because the bite takes best the younger the person is, but we obviously don’t want to bite a child. That would be unethical. Usually the sweet spot is somewhere between 18 and 25.” Laura turned to look at Derek, “You could probably take classes at BHCC and try to meet people there.”

“Yes, talking to strangers is definitely my forte,” Derek grumbled. Stiles grinned. He was pretty sure now that this was closer to Derek’s normal personality, and his initial openness was really just due to the shock and everything.

Laura laughed, “We’ll see. There’s no actual rush.”

“What about seniors at Beacon Hills High?” Stiles asked. Laura and Derek both turned slowly to look at Stiles. “Most of them are 18, or will be within the next few months. And I do know that at least a third of the student body goes to BHCC anyway, so really, we would just be recruiting them a little bit earlier.” Stiles tapped his fingers along the table and noticed that Derek was staring avidly at them. Weird. “Hey,” Stiles practically shouted and then instantly dropped his voice when a few people turned to look at him, “does the person need to be healthy in the first place? With your magic healing and whatever, could it heal a pre-existing medical thing?”

Laura was silently laughing as she responded, “You really are coming at this from all angles. Okay, let’s see. The bite can heal some things, like asthma, because it’s just healing the lungs and stuff. But it can’t grow back a leg or something.”

“What about seizures?”

Laura leaned back a little. “I’m not sure. I think it would depend on what’s causing the seizures. Deaton would probably be able to give a more scientific answer.”

“Do you have someone in mind already?” Derek asked, eyebrows raised up high.

“Maybe,” Stiles replied. His phone buzzed and he looked down at it. “Oh shit. I have to get home soon.”

“What’s up?” Laura asked, concern in her voice.

Stiles held up his phone, “I have alarms set for when my dad gets off work. If I’m home doing homework or in bed or something, he doesn’t ask too many questions, and he doesn’t stress out. If I’m not home, then he stresses out.”

“I’ll go pay,” Derek said, slipping out of the booth.

Laura reached out and grasped onto Stiles’ hand. “Stiles I can’t even begin to explain how amazing you have been, and it’s been less than 24 hours. Please promise me that you’ll go straight home tonight, and not leave again until the morning.”

Stiles stared at her for a few seconds before nodding. “I won’t go anywhere without calling you or Derek first. Is that fair?”

She grinned, “I feel like that’s probably the best I’ll get out of you, right?”

His grin matched hers, and try as he might, it kept coming back to his face for the rest of the night.


	3. Pack Mentality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Derek text in Spanish... except I don't speak Spanish so well so I had to use some Google Translate. I apologize if it doesn't make sense (and my possibly terrible translations will be in the bottom notes).

Derek pulled his phone out of his pocket after getting a succession of texts.

“Is that Stiles?” Laura asked as she walked away from the rental car.

Derek nodded, following her toward the house. He hadn’t been sure if he wanted to really visit the house yet. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to face it. But Laura had been adamant that they needed to survey it and see if it was salvageable or if they had to knock the whole thing down and rebuild. When they first meant to check it out, Derek had delayed by instead insisting that they deal with Laura’s car. But he couldn’t delay anymore.

“ _Did I come on too strong last night?” “I’m sorry” “I know that I can be overbearing and I don’t always take hints well.” “Is that gonna be a problem?_ ”

Derek chuckled. Stiles apparently felt better at communicating certain things through text, just like he did.

“ _You’re good. I think Laura and I were just surprised to be embraced so easily. We’ve had bad experiences in the past… so it was almost weird to have someone accept us so readily._ ”

Laura was kicking at the steps as Derek approached her. “Stiles wanted to make sure he didn’t upset us last night by being too enthusiastic,” he explained with a grin.

She stepped up onto the first step gingerly and grinned back at Derek. “You were right about him being special.” She put more weight on the next step and then continued moving. “These feel pretty strong.”

“ _Dude that sucks._ ”

“ _Don’t call me dude,_ ” Derek responded quickly. “ _Don’t you have school?_ ”

“ _Estoy en clase de español. Tengo un promedio de 100, así que no estoy preocupado_.”

Derek laughed out loud as he read Stiles’ most recent text. He made sure to follow Laura carefully, but he wasn’t really sure what he was looking for in the house. “ _Bueno, podemos agregar español a la lista de cosas en las que estoy calificado para ayudarlo. Sin embargo, mi acento apesta.”_

Derek grinned as he slipped his phone into his pocket and directed more of his attention to Laura. If he kept at least part of his attention on Stiles, he hoped he wouldn’t dwell too much on the state of the house.

“This is too depressing,” Laura said after a few minutes. “I’ll just ask the contractors to start coming out and see what they say.”

Derek gladly followed her out to the car. “So we’re here for good?”

Laura nodded, “I think so. One of us is going to have to go back to the apartment eventually to pack things up.”

“And either sell the car or drive it back here,” Derek added on as he turned the rental on.

“Yea, but after we handle the omega,” Laura warned. “We need to make sure it’s safe here first. We can just keep paying rent; it doesn’t really matter.”

“I’ll email the landlord,” Derek added, “just to let her know we’re not dead or anything.”

Laura nodded as she looked out the window, “Yea, we don’t need her having the cops break in the door and go through our things. Thanks for thinking of that.”

Derek’s phone buzzed while he drove and he laughed to himself. Stiles either had to actually pay attention in class for a while, or it had taken him almost twenty minutes to translate Derek’s last text.

-

Stiles sat down at the table in the motel room Derek and Laura were sharing. “Here’s my list of five preliminary candidates.”

Derek just stared at the paper in front of him while Laura walked over and read it over his shoulder. “You typed up bios about them?” She asked.

Stiles nodded. “I’ve known most of them for years, so it wasn’t hard. Then I did some light snooping and got the rest of the info. They’re all either eighteen or will be eighteen within the next six months.”

Laura nodded, flipping to see the back of the page. “All of them also either have some kind of problems at home or underlying health problems that would benefit from the healing properties of the Bite.”

“Scott’s not on this list,” Laura said with surprise in his voice.

Stiles paused his speech and dropped his hands a little. Derek followed the motion, surprised that Stiles almost looked like a marionette. “He’s only sixteen. I think he could be a good candidate, but that would have to be down the road. His asthma is mostly under control, so it’s not like he needs the Bite to save him, and while his mom works a lot since she’s a single-mom, she still loves him and supports him a ton.”

“It sounds like you did consider him,” Derek pointed out, one eyebrow arching.

“Of course I considered him,” Stiles said, dropping into the chair. “He’s on my five-year plan list, but I left that one at home.”

“You have a five-year plan?” Derek asked, leaning forward.

“Dude how are you surprised? We've known each other for more than a week already. I’d have thought by now you figured out that research, planning, and preparation are three of my main character traits, following sarcasm and nerdiness.”

“Don’t call me ‘dude,’” Derek said sharply.

“Boys,” Laura said firmly, placing a hand on both their shoulders and pushing them apart slightly. “Derek, we're all playing to our traits. And right now, we’re still learning how to work together. Please.”

Laura stared at Derek for a few seconds before Derek nodded and dropped his gaze.

Stiles waited a few more seconds after Derek looked down. He was starting to understand some of the unspoken communication that went on between the two siblings, and he was trying his best to figure out what was werewolf-based and what was just their personalities.

“So Deaton has been teaching me how to manipulate the mountain ash on purpose, and I actually succeeded a few times,” Stiles said brightly. Laura and Derek both turned to look at him. “And by a few times, I mean like… 8 percent of the time. But it’s something!” Laura smiled slightly and nodded. “And I also got a 97% on my Global test, so clearly you’re a great tutor, Derek.” Stiles smiled slightly at Derek, hoping he would take the olive branch.

“You only got that grade because you didn’t sleep in class,” Derek grumbled.

“Yes, but you’re the one who inspired me not to sleep,” Stiles said, poking at Derek’s foot with his own.

Derek huffed out air in what Stiles was beginning to identify as his half-laugh and pushed Stiles’ foot away.

“We’re pretty sure we tracked the omega,” Laura said after a few seconds of watching Stiles and Derek pretend to kick at each other. “I’d like to ask both you and Deaton to come with us, but only if you promise to stay well back and leave any fighting to us.”

Stiles picked up his head suddenly. “Wait, really? You think I’m ready?”

Laura shook her head. “I’d like to think that neither you nor Deaton will be needed. But I’d like to be cautious, particularly after what it did to me last week. I want to make sure that Derek is safe too. But also it might take us a while to really pin him down.” Laura squeezed Stiles’ shoulder. “I hesitated asking you to come, because I want you to be safe.” Stiles made a face and Laura continued quickly, “But Derek and I agreed that it wouldn’t be fair to you. That’s why I talked to Deaton and he agreed to come too. But I need your word that you’ll keep out of it, because if I’m worrying about keeping you safe, then I won’t be able to focus on the omega.”

“If we have to divide our attention between fighting the omega and protecting you, then one of us will get hurt,” Derek said tersely. “It would honestly probably be safer for everyone if you weren’t there.” Stiles had been kind of joking before when he made a face at Laura, but hearing it from Derek hurt. Derek put his foot gently on top of Stiles’ before continuing. “We want you to be safe. We’re in this for the long run, Stiles. There will be plenty of other times for you to help us out and prove your worth.”

Stiles stared down at their feet and felt his lips lifting into a small smile. “I get it,” he said with difficulty. “I want to be helpful. I’ll stay with Deaton and watch what he does. I won’t get in the way unless I absolutely cannot avoid it.”

“There’s always a caveat with you, isn’t there?” Laura asked with a laugh.

“I don’t want to have to lie to you,” Stiles said, looking up at her.

“I appreciate that,” she said, stepping in closer and giving him a hug. Stiles wrapped his arms around her waist and grinned to himself. Laura was objectively beautiful and he still wasn’t totally sure why he wasn’t attracted to her at all. He definitely liked women. And Laura was beautiful. But there was something about her that was distinctly untouchable. Maybe it was because she was the Alpha. Maybe it was because he had seen her internal organs. A small voice inside Stiles whispered, And maybe it’s because you’re half in love with her brother.

Laura dropped her nose into Stiles’ short hair. “You smell like cinnamon, you know?”

Stiles shifted abruptly, staring between Laura as she loomed over him and Derek across the table. “I smell like what?”

She dropped her nose into his hair again and rubbed slightly. “Cinnamon… but like… the way old leaves in the fall smell like cinnamon. And fresh grass and… something sharp.”

“Electricity,” Derek said. Stiles noticed that his arms were crossed again.

“That’s it!” Laura exclaimed with a wide grin. “It’s like the scent right after lightning strikes. Or when you’re at a science museum and you touch that lightning ball thing.”

Stiles couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you normally catalogue people’s scents?”

Laura laughed too. “It’s been a while. We haven’t gotten this close to a brand new person in a long time.” Stiles noticed Derek shifting and staring down at their feet again. “And I figured you’d want to know. That seems like something that would be up your alley.”

“It definitely is,” Stiles agreed enthusiastically. “What do you guys smell like? I mean… with your super noses. I know what you smell like to human noses.”

Laura laughed and stepped back to sit on the edge of the bed. “Derek smells like apples and fresh bread and cut wood.”

She looked expectantly at Derek who sighed before he started speaking. “Laura smells like rain and mangoes and flowers.”

“Guys that’s so cool. Can I smell you too? I mean… I know that would be weird in any other context, but, like, can I?”

Laura laughed and stepped forward again. “For research, right?” She asked, gently pulling him in for another hug.

Stiles dipped his nose in near her neck like Laura and Derek had both done to him and inhaled slowly. After a few seconds he shrugged and leaned back. “You kind of just smell like a person. It’s nice and all… but…” he shrugged again.

Laura laughed, “I wasn’t expecting much else.”

Stiles turned to look at Derek and tried to raise his eyebrow. He wasn’t sure if he succeeded in pulling off the look.

“I’d just smell like a person too,” Derek said firmly. “There’s no point in you smelling me too.”

“But isn’t scent an important part of pack bonding?” Stiles asked. “I talked with Deaton and I’ve been reading a lot about wolves, and a lot of what he’s been telling me lines up with the animal thing, and I know you guys are not at all animals, but scent seems to be important to you.”

“Scent is important, but not necessarily in the way you think. We share scents; that’s part of our pack bond, and part of why we keep touching you, to make you smell like us, and so that we smell a little like you too. But we’re also very tactile, a little like real wolves, and we’re used to touching each other a lot.” Laura turned to look him square in the eyes. “If we ever make you feel uncomfortable, please don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“I doubt that’ll happen,” Stiles answered, “but yes, I will say something.”

“But we can also scent changes in emotions,” Derek said. “Not anything minute or specific, but things like changes in adrenaline, serotonin, things like that.”

Stiles sighed and dropped onto the chair again. “Guys seriously, this is all so cool. If I didn’t have my own awesome magic to obsess over, I’d almost definitely want the bite.”

Derek sat up straighter in his chair, and Laura said, “Stiles don’t joke about that.”

Stiles looked between the siblings several times. “What? I’m not. Obviously I wouldn’t fit on the top 5 of that list, but who wouldn’t want the bite? Besides the risk during the transition, it sounds amazing.”

“Stiles, I almost got killed last week because I am a werewolf,” Laura said firmly.

“And the omega is still out there somewhere, and it almost definitely wants to attack us again,” Derek continued, “because we are werewolves.”

“And I don’t think we’ve mentioned the hunters yet,” Laura continued. “There are actual people who hunt us.” Stiles’ face dropped, “Yes, Stiles. Actual hunters. They have a code and they say that they only kill us if we become too dangerous.”

“But some of them interpret that code to mean all of us, no matter what.” Derek growled as he spoke.

Stiles held up his hands to ward off what they were saying, “Okay, okay, I think I get the point. It’s not all superpowers and glamorous things. There’s a dark and dangerous side to all of this, too.”

Derek nudged Stiles’ foot again. “And it’s our job to keep you safe, at least until you're fully trained.”

Stiles grinned at Derek, “Yes, I will sit on the sidelines. I already promised.”

*

“I’m grabbing a drink,” Stiles said as he tossed his backpack onto the dining room table. “You want one?”

Danny shrugged, “Sure. You have seltzer?”

Stiles grinned, “Course, dude. Want raspberry lime or black cherry? Or we might have some plain, but they aren’t cold yet.”

“Whatever you’re having. I like all of them.”

“Okay,” Stiles shouted from the fridge. “Oooh, we’ve got some chips too.” He came back out of the kitchen. “You want to study here at the table or up in my room? That’s where I usually study, but it’ll be easier for us both to spread our books out here.”

“This is fine,” Danny said as he pulled a chair out.

Stiles jumped back into the kitchen to grab a bowl and dumped the entire bag of chips into it. “So do you want to study for the AP test first or work on the Spanish project?”

“How about the project?” Danny suggested. “We can study for the test later or alone, but we have to do the project together.”

Stiles grinned and pulled out his Spanish book. “Best partner.”

Danny blushed a little and grinned down at his book. “Okay, so during class we had started working on brainstorming ideas. Now all we have to do really is start assembling the brochure.”

Stiles leaned close and the two of them concentrated on creating a brochure for a fictional Spanish-speaking country.

Almost an hour later, Stiles’ phone buzzed with a message from Derek, “ _Hey I’m going to drop those books at your house. You home?_ ”

“ _I am. Studying with my friend Danny. The back door’s open so just come in._ ”

“Hey Danny,” Stiles said, glancing up to see Danny watching him, “my friend Derek might stop by with some books in a bit. You don’t mind, right? I promise we’ll still get to finish.”

“That’s fine,” Danny said. “Derek? What grade is he in?”

“Nah he graduated already,” Stiles answered. “He’s like a family friend, I guess.”

Danny shrugged and they went back to their work. After about ten minutes, Derek knocked on the back door and stepped into the kitchen, “Stiles?”

Stiles jumped up and met Derek in the kitchen, hugging him briefly before taking the books and putting them on one of the chairs in the kitchen so that Danny wouldn’t notice that some of the books had particularly magical titles. “Derek, come say hi to Danny. See, I study for my classes even when you’re not making me.”

Derek looked hesitant but stepped into the dining room and grinned broadly as Danny stood up and held his hand out. Derek shook his hand, “It’s nice to meet you Danny.”

Danny blushed again, deeper than he had before, Stiles was interested to notice, “It’s nice to meet you too Derek. Stiles said you’re family friends?”

Derek laughed, “Family friends. Tutor. Same thing. It’s nice to see Stiles doing some work without me cracking the whip.”

“Hey!” Stiles interjected, “My grades were doing perfectly fine before you came along buster.”

“Mmmhmm,” Derek responded with a laugh that was different from his normal one. This must be his show-laugh for strangers, Stiles realized. “That’s why you got a tutor, because you’re grades were doing so well all on their own.”

Danny watched as Derek and Stiles snarked at one another before Stiles turned back to Danny, “No, but honestly, Derek is amazing. He could explain the same lesson that Sanchez gives, except when Derek talks about it all, he makes it actually interesting.”

“That’s why you’ve suddenly started getting all hundreds? Lydia has been pissed,” Danny said with a laugh.

“Good, she needs some real competition,” Stiles replied smugly. “Derek we’re about to start studying for AP Global, you don’t want to stay with us do you? I know how much you love talking about AP exams.”

“Thanks, but as much fun as that would be, I’ve got to go meet up with Laura and some contractors,” Derek said with a gesture towards the door and a wry smile. “Stiles I’ll talk to you about those books later.”

“Alright, thanks for dropping them off.”

“Danny, nice to meet you again,” Derek said with a wave as he made his way out again.

Danny let out a deep breath and turned to Stiles, “That guy is tutoring you?”

Stiles shrugged with a wide grin, “Yea, why?”

“I don’t know if I’d be able to concentrate,” Danny admitted. “That was possibly the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen in real life.”

Stiles laughed, knowing full well that Derek was still within hearing range. “I manage,” he evaded. “Plus I meant it when I said that he’s really great at explaining things in an interesting way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Estoy en clase de español.Tengo un promedio de 100, así que no estoy preocupado = I am in Spanish class. I have a 100 average so I'm not worried."
> 
> "Bueno, podemos agregar español a la lista de cosas en las que estoy calificado para ayudarlo. Sin embargo, mi acento apesta. = Well, we can add Spanish to the list of things that I am qualified to help you with. However, my accent sucks"


	4. Training

A week later, Stiles stopped by Derek and Laura’s motel room on a Saturday afternoon. He had spent the morning with Deaton and he was tired.

“How is the training with Deaton going so far?” Laura asked. “You said you can manipulate the mountain ash a little bit, but what else have you been working on?”

Stiles tried not to sigh too heavily. “Well, half the time he speaks in proverbs, and the other half of the time I can tell he’s really trying to explain things, but he seems so pained by the process that it’s… difficult. Plus he’s taught me three different, well, he doesn’t call them spells, but they’re basically spells. And he’s been drilling me on them and telling me to practice them over and over again. He said we won’t do any new ones until I master these… but… I don’t know what else he wants me to do with them.”

“What do you mean?” Laura asked, leaning forward on her knees.

“I can do all three. It took me a couple days of nonstop practice and not enough sleep, but I can do them perfectly every time.”

“That’s amazing!” Derek said, leaning towards Stiles. “Then what’s the problem?”

Stiles shrugged and used his fingers to make air quotation marks, “‘I’m thinking too much’ is what he said this morning.”

“What kind of not-spells are they?” Derek asked, leaning forward too. Laura and Derek had both taken on a different kind of intensity. Stiles wasn’t sure if it was that they had a problem to solve or if it was something different.

“Well, two of the spells use mountain ash. One creates a barrier that werewolves can’t cross, one physically pushes someone away, theoretically so I can then create the barrier. The other spell just draws on my Spark, and it creates light. It’s basically lumos, although Deaton scowls at me whenever I say that.” Stiles held his hand up as he said lumos and made a small ball of light appear. This had been the first one he perfected, and he was pretty proud of his light ball. He could make it bigger and brighter or small and dim, depending on how much light he wanted. “But I don’t know how to think less when I make the two different wards.”

Derek stood up and nodded. “Then I think we’re going to have some interactive tutoring for the next few days. Laura, it’s probably fine to practice in the preserve now, right?”

Stiles and Laura stood up as she responded, “Sure, but I’ll come with you just to be safe. What’s your plan?”

Derek looked at Stiles and grinned, “We help him stop thinking.”

Stiles couldn’t help but smile back, even though he felt his eyes widening a little in some combination of surprise and fear. Derek’s grin looked both feral and attractive, and Stiles wondered, not for the first time, if there was something wrong with himself.

Laura hopped in Stiles’ Jeep and directed him down a road he didn’t think he’d ever driven down. “It says ‘no trespassing.’” Stiles pointed out as he drove.

Laura shrugged. “This is where our family’s property starts. It’s private property, but we’re the owners.”

“You and Derek own all this?” Stiles asked, his jaw dropping.

Laura nodded. “We’re going to renovate the house. We met with a contractor this week and they’re going to start demoing things on Monday.”

“Wow, that’s big.”

Laura was silent after she nodded again. Stiles drove for another couple minutes before he came into a clearing. He could see the house at the far end of the field, but Laura directed him to park closer to the tree line.

“It still smells smoky, somehow, and we don’t actually need to be that close.”

Stiles hopped out and looked around. He noticed that Laura was inhaling deeply in what he was starting to recognize as her “scoping things out” pattern.

“Everything all right?” He asked after a couple moments.

She nodded. “I can smell the omega, but I don’t think he’s been here since that night. But…” she shook her head, “he’s been here a lot. His scent is criss-crossed across these woods, which makes it harder to pinpoint when he was here last.”

“Why would he be here specifically?” Stiles asked, then shouted, “Ow!” He spun as Derek trotted past him, the large grin on his face looking unfamiliar. “What the hell was that for? I know you didn’t just put your all into it… so why hit me?”

“This is how you’re going to think less,” Derek said, “stop me.”

Stiles held up his hands to ward Derek off, but he started running again and Stiles dodged. “No fair, dude! You have to let me get ready.”

Derek slapped at Stiles’ shoulder again before dancing out of Stiles’ range. “Nope. Ready means thinking. I know you’ve got mountain ash on you right now. I can smell it. Stop me.”

Stiles glanced at Laura for help but she was grinning now too. “Unless you’re in actual distress, I’m not stepping in. You know he won’t really hurt you. This could be a good way to step up your training.”

“Fuck,” Stiles yelped as Derek gave his shoulder a gentle punch. Stiles intellectually knew it was gentle for Derek, what with the super strength and all, but it was still jarring. Stiles reached for the mountain ash in his pocket and concentrated on the Spark within himself. As he was pulling up the feeling of magic within himself, Derek tapped him again, this time on the other shoulder. “Come on!”

Stiles growled, feeling his concentration slip. He whirled again, trying to keep Derek in front of him so he would see the next jab coming, but Derek kept moving, making Stiles spin too much.

Derek jabbed at Stiles three more times before Stiles managed to concentrate enough to use his magic to throw Derek back.

Stiles felt instantly guilty, watching Derek tumble backwards into the fallen leaves. Derek jumped up a half dozen feet away. “Yes!” he cheered, throwing his arms up.

Stiles felt an arm suddenly slip around his neck and a voice whispered in his ear, “You forgot about the other werewolf.”

Stiles cursed loudly and pulled on his Spark and threw it outwards. He didn’t have any more mountain ash in his hand, so instead of the pushing ward spell he’d been working on with Deaton, he just pushed at Laura with all the power he could summon inside him. He heard the whooshing sound as she was thrown away from him and he turned to watch her crash to the ground twice as far away from where Derek was.

“Shit, Laura!”

She jumped up and cheered just like Derek had, “Stiles that was amazing!”

Both siblings rushed towards Stiles and wrapped their arms around him in a big group hug.

“Stiles, what did you do to me?” Laura asked, shifting a little so her face was clear. “It threw me farther than you threw Derek.”

“Guys I am so sorry--” Stiles started.

“No hush,” Laura interrupted, “You didn’t hurt either of us and you did exactly what you were supposed to.”

“Well, I did with Derek,” Stiles says, looking up at him, and then looking back down again. Derek’s green eyes were even more stunning up close. “That was the pushing spell, the one that uses mountain ash. But Laura, you surprised me, so I kind of just panicked and threw you off using just my Spark.”

Laura stepped back a half step so she could see Stiles’ face more clearly and after a second, Derek quickly copied what she did, leaving Stiles suddenly feeling cold in the absence of the two werewolves. “You mean you stopped thinking so much?” Laura asked with a wicked grin.

Stiles glanced at Derek and watched as his lips raised into a small smile too. “Yea, I guess so,” Stiles replied. “Wait! That means I did it!” Stiles looked around a little more, “Can we practice more? I really don’t want to hurt you, and I know you said that didn’t hurt… but it looked like it hurt, and I don’t want to do it over and over again if I bruise your butts or whatever…”

Derek laughed, “Even if you do bruise us, we’ll be healed before we get back to you to do this.” Derek punched at Stiles’ shoulder again and dodged away.

Stiles cursed and laughed, but gathered more mountain ash in his hand. I’m definitely going to bruise from this, Stiles thought to himself, unless my reflexes get a lot faster.

Laura joined in and both siblings were weaving and taking light jabs at Stiles’ torso. After another half hour of practicing, Stiles was dripping sweat (he was also gratified to see both Hales sweating lightly and panting around wide grins), but he was blocking half their attacks.

“Alright time,” Stiles said, holding his hands up. “Deaton told me not to overexert my Spark, and it’s starting to feel wobbly… so this might be a good time to stop for today.”

“How about we go running then?” Derek asked.

“What?” Stiles flailed. “I just said I was tired.”

“No,” Derek pointed out, “You said your spark was feeling ‘wobbly’ - that doesn’t mean you can’t exercise too.”

“It is good to build stamina,” Laura pointed out.

Stiles stared between the two of them. “Okay, how about this? I’m supposed to be home from tutoring soon, and I’m currently drenched and probably smell gross.” Derek shrugged. “But we can start running next time. I’m not opposed to running in general. Just not right now.”

*

“You want me to go running with you? Why?” Scott was looking at Stiles like he had grown another head. They were studying in Stiles’ room and had books spread out all around them.

“Because Derek and Laura want me to go running with them, and because we barely spend any time together, since we’re working opposite shifts with Deaton, and… I don’t know,” Stiles shrugged, “I figured it could be fun.”

“You do remember I have asthma, right?”

“Yea, I mean, obviously neither of us will actually be able to keep up with them, because they’re werewolves. But if you’re with me, I won’t feel like the slow, dumb, human, because we’ll be slow together.” He elbowed Scott gently, “Just make sure you bring your inhaler.”

“Alright, alright. You know I can’t actually say no to you.” Scott closed his book and sighed, “Well that’s about as good as it’s going to get. How’s your fake tutoring going with Derek?”

Stiles grinned, “I aced the last test, so clearly he’s doing a good job.”

Scott laughed and pulled out his phone. “Do you think if I offer to study with that new girl, Allison, maybe she’ll say yes?”

“Sure, dude! She’s in two of my AP classes, so if you offer to show her around and stuff, I bet she’ll totally agree to study with you.”

Scott smiled, “I’m going to talk to her tomorrow morning.”

“Nice,” Stiles grinned. “And we’ll go running tomorrow at seven when you get out of Deaton’s?”

“Perfect.”

*

“Stilinski, you’ve always literally been the worst… but you’re not half bad anymore,” Jackson shouted after Stiles scored a goal in lacrosse practice.

“Did Jackson just compliment me?” Stiles asked, stopping short. “Is the world ending?”

Scott laughed but focused on his turn aiming for the next. Danny bumped into Stiles’ shoulder and grinned. “I told you, he isn’t the worst.”

“That’s what you’ve been saying about me?” Jackson shouted as he ran back again. “Not the worst? That’s the kind of high praise I get from my best friend?”

“Nah,” Stiles replied as he moved onto the next exercise, “That was just the highest praise I was ready to agree with. Danny has been arguing your case pretty strong lately.”

Jackson stopped halfway across the field, “Lately? When?”

“Jackson, you remember that Stiles’ is my partner in Spanish class,” Danny answered patiently. “I literally was talking about it before.”

“Oh… yea,” Jackson replied before running up the field again.

Stiles trotted closer to Danny, “Was he just… jealous that we’ve been hanging out?”

Danny chuckled, “Yea, he gets that way sometimes. He’s just protective.”

“But of me?”

Danny reached out and pushed at Stiles’ shoulder, “Yea, of you,” before running off after Jackson.

“Huh,” Stiles replied, standing still until Scott waved for him to catch up.

*

“So my dad isn’t working tomorrow night, which means we get to actually eat dinner together, and then we’re going to watch a movie!” Stiles explained as he finished stretching.

“That’s really awesome,” Laura said with a genuine smile. “It must be tough with him working so many hours.”

Stiles shrugged. “He’s the Sheriff, plus I’m old enough now that I can feed myself and stuff. It was rougher when he didn’t trust me on my own and I’d have to go to Scott’s or Mrs. Delaney next door. She was a good cook, but she had too many cats.”

“You guys ready?” Derek asked.

Scott made a face at Derek’s interruption, but Stiles just grinned. “Yup!”

Derek started running without looking back, but Laura kept pace with Stiles and Scott. “If you’re having any problems at all,” she said, looking between both Stiles and Scott, “let us know. It’s good for us to stay active to burn off some of the wolf’s energy, but we don’t want to push you too hard in the beginning.” Scott and Stiles nodded. “I’d like to try for just one mile for now, and we can work up from there. Remember, we’re looking for stamina more than speed right now, okay?”

Stiles glanced up at Derek, who was clearly hanging back, even though he had established himself a good twenty feet ahead of them. But he wasn’t pulling any further away, so Stiles knew he was keeping pace with them using his fancy werewolf hearing.

*

Stiles dropped into his seat and grinned at his dad. They got to eat dinner on a weeknight so rarely lately that it was always special when they got to do it.

“So how has school been lately?” His dad asked.

“Really good actually,” Stiles replied, grinning. “Remember I told you that Derek started tutoring me in AP Global? He’s been really helpful and I aced the last test!”

“Stiles, that’s awesome!” His dad beamed at him around a mouth full of food. “I always knew you could do it.”

Stiles sighed and tried not to laugh, “I did too… it’s just that Mr. Sanchez is so boring. When Derek explains things, they actually make sense, and don’t make me want to fall asleep.”

“Well then it’s lucky that you guys figured out the whole tutoring situation. You said you were talking about it when Laura took you out for that thank-you dinner?”

Stiles nodded and allowed himself to actually laugh this time, “She said I was a life saver, and that it was the least she could do. It was really nice actually. They’re both pretty cool.”

Stiles’ dad nodded, “She applied to be a deputy yesterday.”

“Really?” Stiles asked, surprised that she hadn’t mentioned it.

“Why do you look so surprised, kid? She didn’t mention her police aspirations during your one dinner together?”

“No, it’s not that,” Stiles floundered, “I mean, I did mention that you’re the Sheriff, so it might have come up then, but we’ve also chatted a few times when I met up with Derek.”

“So do you think I should hire her?”

“Why are you asking me? Didn’t you just point out that I’ve only talked to her a handful of times?” Stiles was trying not to act weird, but he felt like this conversation was going in a distinctly weird direction.

“Well, I’ve only spoken to her once, so you know her better than me by default.”

Stiles nodded, sticking out his lower lip in thought. “I guess so…” he stared down at his food. How to give Laura a character reference without mentioning anything about werewolves or his Spark, or her near-death experience? “She seems really responsible, and like she and her brother are planning on staying here. She mentioned fixing up their old house.” Stiles’ dad nodded, so he continued. “They both clearly dealt with that huge trauma with their house burning down, but they seem to have dealt with that… as well as you can, I guess. I know they were living together in New York City before they moved back. Um… she has a good sense of humor.” He looked up at his dad and grinned ruefully… “That’s kind of it. She likes curly fries.” Stiles shrugged. “I think you should hire her, if she’s qualified or whatever. She seems like a good person.”

“Fantastic. I called her and told her she’s hired right before I left the office today.” At Stiles’ dumbstruck face, his father laughed. “I just wanted to make sure I made the right choice.”

Stiles grinned down at his food for a few moments before his dad asked, “Oh, I can’t believe I almost forgot! Tell me about how work has been going!”

Stiles beamed. He and Scott had been practicing this one, as had Deaton. “It’s been pretty cool so far. I don’t actually have to do anything hard or gross or anything, although he did make me mop up dog pee a few times. Apparently that’s a thing? But it’s whatever.” Stiles launched into a monologue about all of the petty things that Scott did while working, but which Stiles did almost none of. Deaton had insisted that he train Stiles just as he did Scott, just so that Stiles could fulfill any duty in case his dad came in or there was an actual emergency or something, but most of the time he spent with Deaton was actually learning and practicing spells.

Deaton had been impressed with Stiles’ progress since Derek and Laura started helping him train, but he still wasn’t teaching him any new spells. They talked a lot about theory though, so that at least gave Stiles something to think about other than the repetition of the same three spells.

After finishing dinner, Stiles and his dad sat on the couch to watch a movie and Stiles couldn’t help but grin over at his dad. He knew they loved each other, but he also felt like they fought at least a third of the time they were together, so he was really glad that the night had gone so smoothly.

-

“Hey Laura!” Stiles said when she walked through the back door of the clinic while he was supposed to be meditating.

Deaton rolled his eyes, “You’re supposed to be deep in meditation,” he chided. Stiles grinned apologetically and shrugged. “But Laura, I’m glad you’re here. Hopefully we can make some real progress now.”

“I’m your next subject,” Laura said with a grin.

“You?”

Deaton nodded and settled down near Stiles. “Laura if you would sit across from Stiles?” He waited a moment while she settled down. “Now, Stiles, you can use your Spark to sense supernatural creatures. It’ll probably be easiest for you to start by learning to identify Laura and Derek, since they’re part of your pack.” Stiles nodded. “Now, if you close your eyes, you should be able to sense Laura’s essence.”

Stiles tried not to snicker and closed his eyes. After a moment, he opened them again. “How exactly am I supposed to do that?”

“Normally when you use your Spark, you reach inside yourself to access it, right?” Stiles nodded. “This time reach out with your Spark. You should encounter Laura’s essence when you reach for it.”

Stiles closed his eyes again and tried to follow Deaton’s directions. After several minutes of nothing, Stiles finally reached out and held Laura’s hand. As soon as he touched her, he cursed and dropped her hand.

“What?” Laura asked, looking down at her own hand.

Stiles reached back out and grabbed Laura’s hand again. He turned it over and looked at it closely, then closed his eyes and kept it near his face. “Were you always glowing?”

Deaton sighed with satisfaction, “That’s her essence.”

“Can we call it an aura?” Stiles asked with a slight whine.

“Well, you don’t use half the terms I give you, so you might as well.” Deaton said with a shrug. “Now, can you sense Laura’s… aura when you aren’t touching her?”

Stiles let go of her hand and sat for a few more minutes before he finally grinned and opened his eyes. “Yes!”

“Alright,” Deaton said, clapping his hands together. “Our next step is teaching you to tell the difference between Laura and Derek, and then we’ll work on your range.”

“We could play hide and seek,” Laura suggested.

“Excuse me?” Deaton asked mildly.

“That’s what we used to do with the kids when they were young,” Laura explained. “It forces the seeker to rely on their other senses to find the pack members, and since Stiles’ magic is one of his senses, he’ll use that to find us.”

Deaton looked off into the distance for a few seconds. “I suppose that could work. Derek will agree?” Laura nodded with confidence. “Then let me know how it goes.”

-

The first day was long and frustrating and eventually Derek started whistling, which helped Stiles get closer, and he eventually figured out that Derek was perched 15 feet up in a tree.

The third afternoon, Stiles noticed something different. When he found Laura, instead of just the faint glow he had sensed the first two days, there was a definite red tinge to her. “Stay still for a minute,” Stiles said once he found her. He sat down on the floor and practiced the breathing technique Deaton had instructed him to do. In the office, Stiles hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, but now, there was a definite Laura-shaped reddish glow in front of him. “I don’t even know how to explain it,” Stiles said with his eyes still closed. “It’s like… you’re red, but also, I can feel you? I can feel your redness? That doesn’t make sense at all.”

Laura laughed, “Your Spark must be sensing me. It doesn’t make sense because you’re trying to describe it using your regular senses, when this is a whole extra one.”

Stiles grinned, opening his eyes. He could still feel the vague redness of Laura, even when he wasn’t concentrating on it as much.

“Do you know where Derek is?” Laura asked.

“Do you?”

“Of course,” she said with a laugh. “Even if I weren’t an Alpha, I’d still be able to find him. I was always the best at hide and seek.”

“Can you point me in a general direction?” Stiles asked hopefully.

“North,” Laura said with a cackle as she turned and ran in the direction that Stiles was pretty sure the house was in.

“North. Great. Thanks Laura. Let me just consult my handy compass.” Stiles sighed and closed his eyes again. If Laura was reddish, then Derek would probably be blueish, he figured. After what felt like a few minutes of reaching in the dark, Stiles opened his eyes again, squinting as a patch of sunlight hit him in the eyes. “Wait. Wait, if that’s the setting sun, that’s West,” Stiles said pointing, “which makes that North.”

He turned his body and started marching through the woods, stopping every minute or so to close his eyes and reach out for Derek with his new-found sense. After several minutes, he noticed something gold high up in a tree. He opened his eyes, and was surprised to see Derek grinning down at him as he tucked a book into his pocket.

“Why are you gold?” Stiles called up to him.

“What?”

“I kind of thought you’d be blue, because of your eyes.”

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Derek said, jumping gracefully out of the tree.

“Your ‘essence’ - god I can’t call it that,” Stiles said, shaking his head. “I don’t know. Your aura. The way you feel to my spark. Laura feels red, which makes sense since she’s the Alpha, and her eyes are red, right? But your eyes are blue, and you feel gold.”

Derek just stared at Stiles. “My essence feels gold?”

“That’s literally what I just said, dude.”

Derek punched gently at Stiles’ shoulder, “Don’t call me dude,” he said mechanically. Stiles was about 90% sure that it didn’t actually bother Derek, but it was just part of their routine by this point. “Laura,” Derek said, raising his voice just slightly.

“Dude, she’s back at the house I think,” Stiles said.

“Shhh,” Derek said, waving at Stiles as he started walking towards the house. “Did you hear what Stiles said?” There was no way he was actually talking to Laura, was there? They were at least a five minute walk from the house. “He said you feel red and I feel gold. Gold, Laura!”

“What’s she saying?” Stiles whispered, deciding to give up on the logical part of his brain that said there was no way that Laura and Derek could actually be talking.

Derek stopped suddenly, causing Stiles to almost crash into his back. Derek turned and wrapped his arms around Stiles, lifting him off the ground and spinning in a circle and laughing. Stiles rested his arms on Derek’s shoulders and couldn’t help but grin down at him. “What’s got you so happy?”

“Come on,” Derek said, putting Stiles down finally, but grabbing onto his hand. “I want Laura to explain.” Derek took off running, but Stiles was grateful to notice that Derek was only running at Stiles’ fastest speed, not his own. Holding onto Derek’s hand helped Stiles navigate the forest trail more easily. He rarely ran this fast in the Preserve paths because he didn’t trust himself not to trip over something.

A minute or so later, they came into the clearing around the house and Laura met them at the tree line, lifting Derek this time in a twirling hug. Stiles grinned widely at the two siblings, still unsure what they were so happy about, but reveling in it anyway.

After a minute, Laura turned to Stiles and laughed. “Sorry Stiles. I’m sure your curiosity is killing you.”

Stiles laughed, “Only a little. I haven’t seen you two this happy before, and I’m enjoying it.”

“The color of a werewolf’s eyes indicates some things about them,” she said, reaching out to hold Stiles’ hand. “We’ve been saying for years that my brother proves the common folklore about eye colors wrong, and you just supported our claim.”

“What do the eye colors mean?” Stiles asked. “I know red is for Alpha.”

“Gold is for beta,” Laura continued, “and usually blue is for omega, although obviously Derek isn’t an omega, even though his eyes have been blue for years.”

“They weren’t always blue?”

Derek shook his head, “Blue is associated with omegas because it’s the color a werewolf’s eyes change after their soul has been damaged irredeemably, which is usually when a pack would kick that were out.”

Stiles scoffed, “You? Your soul is irredeemably damaged?”

Derek winced. “Seemingly. When I was fifteen, a girl I had a crush on… was bit by an Alpha. Her body was rejecting the bite though…” Derek shook his head.

“Derek ended her suffering,” Laura continued, laying her free hand on his shoulder. “She would have died a slow and painful death, if it weren’t for him.”

“But I killed an innocent,” Derek said tiredly. This sounded like an argument they had been through a thousand times. “Whether or not it was ultimately a good thing, I still killed her.”

“And that’s why your eyes are blue?” Derek and Laura nodded. “But… the fact that your aura is gold… means that your soul isn’t truly damaged?”

“It’s good enough for me,” Laura said with a grin. “I always knew he wasn’t hopeless anyway.”

*

By the third or fourth day, Stiles could find them pretty easily. He realized that he could only identify their different colors when he was up close, but he could sense their general essence from further away. Eventually, Stiles noticed that there was something almost visibly connecting them. “Laura. What are these magical strings connecting us?”

“It’s probably our bond,” Laura said patiently.

“But… I can see it?” Stiles demanded

Laura shrugged. “Are you ‘seeing’ it or sensing it with your Spark?”

Stiles threw his hands up. “I don’t know. No, that’s not good enough. Hold on.” Stiles turned and faced Laura with his eyes closed. “Move around somewhere, just like… to the side or something.” Stiles heard Laura’s footprints, but tried to tune them out. He paid attention to the bond string and poked at it gently in his mind. It had definitely shifted and Stiles held out his hand in the direction it felt like it had gone. He opened his eyes and then threw his hand up in the air in celebration when he saw that he was pointing directly at Laura’s chest. “I can sense where you are!”

“What about Derek?” Laura asked.

Stiles closed his eyes. He realized he could feel Derek’s string, even though he wasn’t at the motel with them. “I can’t see his aura, so he’s outside of my range,” Stiles said, “But I still feel our bond.” He poked at it a few times, “It feels like he’s out that way,” Stiles said, pointing along the main road that led towards the downtown area. His bond also felt a little different than Laura’s, although he was struggling to explain even to himself what was different about it. They both felt strong, Stiles thought as he poked at each bond string, but just… different.

Stiles' phone buzzed, “ _What are you doing????_ ”

Stiles laughed, “Oh my god, Derek just asked what I’m doing. You can feel that?” Stiles poked at Laura’s bond in his mind again.

“Yea… it feels kind of… weird. Almost like a tickle.”

“ _I just realized I could do that. Sorry! I won’t poke the bond anymore!_ ” Stiles texted back quickly.

“ _You can do that??_ ” Derek responded quickly. “ _It felt weird._ ”

“ _Not to be creepy… but apparently I can sense your general direction and like… tickle our bond? I don’t even know. Can you feel where I am through the bond?_ ”

“Which ward is stronger?” Laura asked abruptly and Stiles turned towards her warily.

“I’m not sure. Why?”

Laura shrugged. “We still have a few hours of daylight left, and Derek probably won’t be back for a while. You want me to try to break through your wards?”

Stiles laughed and stood up, “Yea sure.”

He threw up the mountain ash barrier first, and after a few minutes of Laura pushing at it from all angles, she stepped back with a tired grin. “Next.”

Stiles gathered the mountain ash carefully back into the bag that basically lived in his pocket recently. He pulled on his Spark and put up his ward. Laura jumped at it once he nodded and tried to get to him from each direction. After a few more minutes, she gave up again.

“Does that one make you tired?”

Stiles shrugged. “No. But also, I guess I’ve never held it for that long, and it’s not that big. Maybe eventually it would drain me.”

She sat down and looked out the window for a minute. “How big can you make it?”

Stiles shrugged. “I don’t know. Deaton told me that I can make a mountain ash ward as big as I want, and as long as I connect the ash in a big circle, it’ll cast the ward. He said it could go around buildings and things. I’ll just have to drop the ash as I walk in a circle instead of throwing it out and letting it fall like I did before.” Stiles leaned back, “Can we go to the Preserve tomorrow so I can practice making my wards bigger? I don’t want to do it here and accidentally knock someone over in another room or something.”

Laura looked sharply at him, “Your ward can affect regular humans?”

Stiles nodded, “We realized that the other day when I knocked Deaton over by accident. He said I should be able to fine tune the ward so that it only affects supernatural beings, but honestly, I think I’m glad that there’s something that can affect humans too. Like… it could keep humans out instead of just keeping supernatural beings out.”

“Or trapped inside,” Laura added.

“Hey, you said we have time now, right?” Stiles asked, sitting up suddenly, “Why don’t we go to the Preserve now?”

Laura grinned. “Let’s go! You’re driving.”

“When are you guys going to get another car?” Stiles asked as he rose and pulled out his keys. “Not that I mind driving you around at all, but.. I don’t know… don’t you guys need two cars?”

“Well, we left our car in New York,” Laura answered as she climbed into Stiles’ Jeep. “It seems silly getting another one when that one is perfectly good. Once we deal with the omega, I’m probably going to go back to New York to pack up the things from the apartment and then I’ll drive it out here.”

“Huh,” Stiles said as he drove. “I didn’t even think about that. You guys just dropped everything there?”

“Well, I packed a bag for a couple days,” Laura pointed out, “since I wasn’t really expecting to stay for long, and then Derek just flew out here with what was in the car at the moment. Derek emailed our landlord last week to ask her to go into the apartment and clear out our fridge. I think he said we had a family emergency and can’t make it back for a while, but since he made it clear that we’re happy to continue paying rent, I don’t think she minded too much.”

Stiles pulled into what was becoming his normal parking spot near the house and hopped out. “I’d offer to help you move your stuff, since I’ve always wanted to road trip across the country, but I can’t think of a single excuse that my dad would buy.”

Laura laughed as she nodded, “I’ll be fine by myself. Derek said he’d stay here anyway, so I trust the two of you to hold down our territory.”

Stiles paused and looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. “That still just sounds weird. It’s going to take me a while to get used to the idea of holding territories and things like that.”

Laura waved, “Don’t worry. We’ve got time. Now, try to make the biggest ward you can.”


	5. Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Some descriptions of blood and violence.)

The fifth time they went running, Stiles lost track of Derek ahead of them. He had continued to run in front of them while Laura kept pace with them, chatting sometimes, telling stories sometimes when they struggled to speak and run at the same time, and just silently keeping them company other times.

Stiles was proud that he could already see his progress. The first time he ran, he was out of breath before they finished and struggled to make the mile at the pace Derek set. But this time, he was pretty sure they were almost done with the first mile and he was barely out of breath.

“Where did Derek go?” Scott panted out. He was still struggling a little, but Laura was careful not to push him past what his lungs could handle yet.

Stiles felt the hair on the back of his neck flair up as a golden figure came towards him, and he threw up a mountain ash barrier the second that Derek lunged at them, causing Derek to bounce off almost comically. Stiles watched as Derek’s eyes widened and he tumbled down onto his butt.

“What the fuck?” Scott shouted as Laura rushed forwards and picked Stiles up, twirling him around in a circle as she cheered.

Derek was up on his feet watching them when Stiles realized that the ward was still up, just with Scott and Laura inside it. This was the biggest mountain ash barrier he had made so far, and he had instinctively cast it around Scott and Laura to protect them. He pulled on his Spark and let the barrier drop, and Derek instantly rushed to pat Stiles on the shoulder, grinning.

“Is anybody going to explain what just happened?” Scott practically shouted from beside them.

Stiles looked at Scott as Laura slowly lowered him to his feet. “I told you that they’d been helping me practice my shielding spells.”

“Yea, but you didn’t tell me that they did it by trying to attack you!”

Stiles looked at the two werewolves and shrugged, “I feel like I must have mentioned that.” When Scott wildly shook his head, Stiles continued. “Dude I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to let Derek scare you. Deaton’s been teaching me defensive magics, and Derek pointed out that the best way to get good at defensive magic is to actually defend myself.”

“And he won’t always necessarily be prepared,” Laura pointed out. “So he should be able to use his magic as a reflex.”

“And he did,” Derek said, and Stiles felt his cheeks warm under Derek’s wide grin. Derek rarely smiled this broadly, with his eyes crinkling and everything, and Stiles was relishing it every time he saw it.

“So do you think Deaton will teach me new spells then?” Stiles asked hopefully.

“I’ll tell him that you definitely seem to have mastered these,” Laura promised.

“Can we finish the run then?” Scott asked, “Without any more practice attacks? Stiles might feel prepared for them but I’m pretty sure that I had half a heart-attack.”

“Sure,” Derek said, pulling Stiles in for a quick one-armed hug before letting him go, “no more attacks today, I promise.”

“Hey so,” Stiles said, suddenly inspired, “I was thinking about asking Scott his opinions about that list I was discussing with you guys the other day.”

“You sure?” Laura asked, her eyebrows doing one of the patented Derek scowls.

“Yes,” Stiles replied simply.

“Then okay,” Laura responded with a one-shoulder shrug. “I trust your judgement.”

Stiles beamed and launched himself at Laura, wrapping her in a tight hug. “That means a lot.” She patted his back affectionately before he pulled away and turned towards Scott. “Come on let’s jog. We can go a little slower, but at least this way we’ll be getting closer to the cars.”

Stiles launched into a quick explanation of their goal of biting one or two people a year, and how they had to cautiously choose people who would be the ideal candidates for the pack. Scott silently listened, but every time Stiles glanced over at him, Scott’s eyes were getting progressively wider.

When they got back to the cars, Scott bent over for a moment, breathing deeply. “This isn’t some elaborate lead up to the big reveal that I’m your first choice, right? Because there have to be better people to consider.”

Stiles clapped Scott on the back, “No, but not for the reasons you’re thinking. Scotty boy, you’re my bro, dude. You’re part of this whether you’re a wolf or not.” When Scott looked up at Laura, she nodded, so Stiles continued. “We were actually thinking about Isaac first. From the lacrosse team.”

“Isaac Lahey? Isn’t he kind of… an outsider?” Scott asked.

“That’s kind of the point,” Stiles responded quietly. “Also I’m pretty sure his dad is abusive, although nobody’s ever been able to get actual evidence about that and Isaac never talks about it. And I know he’s planning to go to BHCC, so joining the pack wouldn’t alter any of his long-term plans.”

Scott nodded slowly, “That does actually make sense then. But like, how are you going to ask him? It’s not like you can say ‘Hey do you want to be a werewolf? No? Oh okay then, see you later’ right?”

Laura laughed, “There is more to that conversation, you’re right. But I’ll handle that. Stiles doesn’t have to worry about that too much.”

“That’s awesome,” Scott said, suddenly beaming. “If you had much more on your plate, you wouldn’t have any time for lacrosse!”

Derek looked at Stiles, “You’re on the lacrosse team?”

Stiles winced. “Technically. I mostly sit on the bench, although if you guys keep running me like this, maybe I’ll stand a chance of actually starting.”

*

“I have to say that I am very impressed by your progress,” Deaton commented at their next meeting. “Laura said you’re using the two defensive moves interchangeably and reflexively. It takes people weeks or even months to perfect those usually.”

Stiles snorted and rubbed at his shoulder. “Well, I mean, I have been at this for three weeks now. That counts as ‘weeks’ right? And do they have werewolves punching at them if they fail?” Deaton raised one eyebrow and Stiles laughed. “Derek came up with the idea to give me ‘real-world’ training so I’ve been dodging his attacks for the past week and a half. He never even bruised me, so I know he was pulling his punches, but it still hurt enough to be motivational.”

“Interesting.” Deaton said. After a few seconds, he spoke again. “Normally, druids, witches, sparks, those with magic, they train alone, or with others with similar skill sets. I don’t know of any other people with magic who have actually trained with a werewolf. It does make sense, in a certain way. They rely a lot on their reflexes and instincts, and those are the very things we need to train for you.”

“So can I learn a new spell?” Stiles asked, suddenly perking up.

Deaton sighed and closed his eyes and Stiles could tell that he had given up on correcting Stiles. “We can start one more today, and if you keep making such quick progress, we should be able to add new techniques in more regularly.”

“Yes!” Stiles punched the air in enthusiasm. “Let’s do this!”

Stiles’ and Deaton’s phones both buzzed simultaneously, and they made eye contact as they pulled them out. Derek had texted both of them.

“ _The omega is at the house. Hurry._ ”

“My car,” Deaton said, reaching behind him to grab jars and quickly pack them into a bag.

“I’ll meet you out there,” Stiles said, tearing out the back door. He rushed to his car, throwing his school bag into the back and pulling out the baseball bat that he always kept under the seat. He turned and ran back to Deaton’s fancy Lexus just as the vet arrived there too.

“A bat?” He asked as he opened the door.

Stiles held it up, “I carved some of those runes you showed me into it, and then I sealed mountain ash into the grooves.”

Deaton looked impressed, but only spared a moment to look at the bat before he quickly pulled out of the lot. They were at the house in just under five minutes, and Stiles barely spared a glance at the signs of the demolition. Deaton and Stiles both jumped out and followed the sounds of snarling towards the back of the house.

Stiles stopped short as he took in the scene. He had promised Laura he would hang back, but he found that his feet literally would not move closer to the fight. Laura was in her wolf-shape again, although she was much more impressive while standing up and snarling. Stiles could see some blood dripping down her side already, which worried him. Even though he hadn’t seen it yet, he could tell that Derek was in what they called the beta-shift--he was still mostly human but had more lupine features, including claws and fangs.

The omega, though, was somewhere in between the two of them. His mal-formed torso had ripped off whatever shirt he had been wearing and he honestly almost looked more ape than wolf as he used his long hairy arms to swipe at his attackers. Every once in a while, the figure dropped to all fours, and Stiles realized why he had mistaken it for a wild animal. But then it would stand up on two legs and become some weird and terrifying creature.

Laura and Derek were on either side of him, taking turns darting in and biting at or slashing at his back or legs, before dancing out of the way of his swinging arms.

Derek had obviously been caught a few times, but his wounds all seemed to be minor enough that they were healing already.

“What’s the plan?” Stiles whispered to Deaton, who was standing a few feet in front of him.

“We’re just backup,” Deaton whispered back.

“I know that,” Stiles tried to keep his voice down even though he wanted to shout. Laura and Derek were right there, and they were both hurt, and even though the omega was outnumbered, he seemed to be holding his own pretty well. “But… we should be ready… for something, right? What do you have in your bag of tricks there?”

Deaton looked back at Stiles and just laid a finger over his lips to hush him. Stiles shifted from foot to foot, constantly rotating his grip on the bat so that it wouldn’t get too sweaty. He patted his pockets, checking for the mountain ash that he knew was there.

After another minute or two, Stiles had counted four or five separate new wounds on the omega, but it didn’t seem to be slowing down at all, while Laura was still losing blood from her leg wound. It must have been really bad in order for it to still be bleeding, while it looked like most of Derek’s wounds had all stopped bleeding, except for the few new scratches he received when the omega caught one good hit along his arm.

The wind must have shifted or something, because the omega suddenly swung its head towards Deaton and Stiles, and within the next heartbeat it was running at them at a terrifying speed.

“Shit.” Stiles breathed out, resisting his initial urge to run. He glanced at Deaton while tightening his grip on his bat.

Deaton was mumbling under his breath and Stiles picked out a few words that Deaton had first explained could be part of the ward spell, although there was definitely something else going into it too. The blue shield shimmered into place the second before the omega crashed into it, dropping to the ground inches away from his feet. The air whooshed out of Stiles’ lungs before he even realized that he had been holding it.

Stiles looked up and saw that Derek and Laura weren’t quite there yet. A part of Stiles’ brain told him that Derek had checked on Laura’s wound before turning to chase the omega. He looked down and saw that the omega was rising and turning back towards Laura and Derek, a low growl rumbling through its throat. They must present as easier targets, not being magically protected, Stiles realized with a dropping feeling in his stomach.

Without thinking about it, Stiles stepped out of Deaton’s magical ward and brought his bat down over the omega’s head. The runes he carved into it must have done something, because the resounding crack dropped the omega. Deaton reached out and grabbed Stiles’ shoulder, dragging him back into the protection of the ward, but there was obviously no point anymore.

The omega was slowly shifting back into a human form, and the large bleeding gash on the back of its head was worrying Stiles. “Fuck did I kill him?”

Deaton must have come to the same conclusion because he dropped the ward and stepped forward, placing a piece of fabric to the back of the omega’s head.

Derek dropped to his knees next to the omega while Laura stood next to him. Derek was looking between the face of the omega on the floor and Laura, although she couldn’t say anything in her wolf form.

“Here, you can have this,” Stiles said, shifting out of his flannel shirt.

Laura shifted back to human and slipped his shirt on, buttoning it as she gasped out. “Derek you went to see him in the hospital the other day.”

“I don’t know how I didn’t recognize the scent,” Derek stammered. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“There are medications that can change a person’s scent,” Deaton said, dabbing at the head wound. “If a nurse or doctor is helping him, it’s definitely possible. Also, Stiles, he isn’t dead.”

“Thank god,” Stiles gasped, placing a hand over his thudding heart. “Who is it though? It sounds like you know him.”

“That’s our Uncle Peter,” Laura said solemnly.

“Fuck,” Stiles breathed out.

“Yea,” Derek agreed quietly. “Laura, he tried to kill you. He almost did kill you.”

“He must want your Alpha abilities,” Deaton pointed out. “He clearly still hasn’t recovered. Look at the burns along this side of his face. There might be a mental disconnect too, or perhaps he didn’t recognize you. But either way, the Alpha healing abilities would greatly help him. He must realize that, even if it’s only on an instinctual level.”

Deaton pulled out a pair of handcuffs and held them up. “Do you want me to restrain him?”

“No, I’ll take care of him,” Laura said sadly. She looked up at Derek, and they did one of those silent communication things again.

Derek reached out and pulled Stiles up. “Come on,” he said quietly, gently pulling Stiles away from the fallen figure.

“Is she going to kill him?” Stiles whispered after they walked for a few feet.

Derek didn’t respond, but Stiles could tell from his face that the answer was yes. Just as they turned the corner of the house, Stiles heard a wet, heavy sound, and didn’t want to focus on what exactly made that sound.

Derek stopped walking suddenly and looked down at his feet.

Stiles stepped slowly to stand in front of Derek. When he didn’t respond, Stiles slowly stepped in and wrapped his arms around Derek’s back. After a few seconds, Derek dropped his face to Stiles’ neck and returned the hug. “He’s been in a coma ever since the fire,” Derek explained, his voice muffled slightly. “We would come to visit him sometimes, and Deaton would check on him… but he had been injured too severely for his healing to help, but we couldn’t kill him when there was even the slimmest chance he’d get better. We never… we never imagined this.” After a few more deep breaths, Derek lifted his face up to look Stiles in the eye. “That is not what ‘staying on the sidelines’ means, by the way.”

“Dude, I don’t want to argue with you right now, but it 100% was. I stayed on the sidelines, I even let Deaton cast the ward! Until the very last minute when I was presented with the perfect opportunity. I was one second away from safety anyway.” Derek was scowling pretty intensely as Stiles spoke, so he threw in his last defense. “I couldn’t stand to see him hurt you or Laura again. I couldn’t watch that, knowing that I could have helped you.”

“Thank you Stiles,” Laura said as she came around the corner of the house. Stiles smiled faintly as he saw her, noticing that she was still only wearing his shirt, and that there was a fresh bandage covering her upper thigh. “I have clothes in the car,” she said, interpreting his look. “And Deaton patched me up. I’ll be fine in a few hours.” She stepped into the space between himself and Derek, letting them both hug her. “I can already tell we’re going to be a great pack.”

“Not to make this awkward, but Deaton was helpful too,” Stiles whispered. He heard Deaton chuckle from where he was standing a few feet away.

“Yes, but he doesn’t want to be part of our pack,” Laura pointed out. “He is always helpful, you’re right though. Stiles what did you do to that bat? I wouldn't think a normal bat would have taken him down like that, not after he ignored all of the other wounds we gave him.”

“He infused it with protective runes and mountain ash,” Deaton explained. “Short of an actual rowan staff, I don’t think it could have been more effective.”

Laura turned to look wide-eyed at Stiles. “Did Deaton teach you about that too?”

Deaton sounded rueful as he spoke this time, “No, actually, not at all. We hadn’t even gotten to my planned unit on weapons. Although clearly I need to reassess the order of the topics we discuss.”

Stiles grins sheepishly. “I didn’t realize I was doing things out of order. It just made sense for me to have something to defend myself, and after he ran away when I hit him with my car, I figured a regular bat wouldn’t do anything.”

Laura shifted and rested her head on Derek’s shoulder. She looked almost as tired as she had that first morning. “I’m really sorry about your uncle,” Stiles said softly.

Laura tightened her grip on Stiles’ waist. “Thanks.”

*

Stiles was glad the next day was Saturday, and he texted Scott as Deaton drove him back to the clinic so he could get his car. “ _We’re going for a run tomorrow morning. Hope you don’t have plans_.”

“ _I’m studying with Allison at 2 at the library_ ” Scott texted back a minute later.

Stiles was surprised that he was able to grin as he texted, “ _Then we’ll have to run early._ ”

Stiles fiddled with his phone for a few seconds before he texted Derek. “ _So I’m still picking up on all of the nuances of this. Do you guys want to be left alone tonight, or should I invite myself over?_ ” Stiles had noticed that Derek seemed to be more open through texting, and he was banking on an honest response.

“ _Is your dad working tonight?_ ”

“ _Yup_ ”

“ _Bring chips. And something with chocolate for Laura_.”

As Deaton parked his car, he shifted to look at Stiles. “You’ll be alright?”

Stiles was about to laugh and say something sarcastic, but he could see the sincerity in Deaton’s eyes, so he took a deep breath and replied, “I will be. It sucks that Laura had to kill her uncle… but I’m really glad that I didn’t kill him. I wanted to stop him, but I didn’t really think about what hitting someone on the back of the head with a bat would do.” Stiles swallowed and shifted the bat around, staring at the base. He hadn’t inspected it that closely yet and he wondered idly if there was any blood on it. He hoped not. “It’s also still super surreal that Laura killed someone. I mean… I definitely knew it was an option after what he did to her… but… it’s real now, you know?”

Deaton nodded slowly. “The stakes are often higher among the supernatural community.”

Stiles nodded too and they sat in silence for a moment. “Well,” Stiles finally said. “I guess I’m off then.”

“I’ll see you Monday afternoon then.”

Stiles walked to his car slowly. Once he got in, he texted Scott, “ _I’m going to hang out with Derek and Laura. Can I tell my dad I’m with you?_ ”

“ _Of course. Mom’s working till midnight_.”

“ _You’re the best bud_.”

“ _I know_.” Stiles laughed at Scott as he finally put the car in drive. He stopped at a 7-11 on the way to pick up snacks, and then continued on to the motel. He was careful to park his Jeep behind the curve of the parking lot so there was no chance his dad would notice it if he casually drove down the street.

As he stepped up to the door to knock, it swung open. He stepped inside and was immediately enveloped in Derek’s arms. “Come on, we’re watching Great British Bake Off.”

“Derek said you brought snacks?” Laura’s voice drifted over from the bed, where she was wrapped up in blankets.

“You might have to come out of the burrito if you want to eat these,” Stiles said, holding up the bag. “I got chocolate covered pretzels, Doritos, kettle chips, and Milanos.” Laura reached out of the blanket burrito and made grabby hands, so Stiles waked over and dropped the bag on the bed next to her. Instead of opening it up though, he stepped into her outstretched arms and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around his ribs and squeezed tightly.

“Thanks Stiles,” she breathed into his chest. “Do you know tomorrow’s my first day as a full deputy? My training period is finally over.” Stiles nodded and rested his chin on Laura’s head. He glanced over at Derek, who was standing a few feet away. Stiles did a wiggle with his eyebrows and was relieved when Derek interpreted his meaning, and came over and placed his arms around the pair. Laura let out another deep breath as Derek squeezed gently. “It’s good having you both here.”

“Can I ask a shitty question?” Stiles murmured. “There’s kind of no good way to ask it, but someone has to.” Derek pulled back a little so Laura could raise her head more easily to look at Stiles. She nodded so he continued. “What happens with the body? You said he’s been in a coma for years… so won’t people question how he got out to the Preserve… and how he died… and so close to the house?”

Laura sighed. “You’re right. We shouldn’t have just left him there. I wasn’t thinking.”

“I’ll call Deaton,” Derek said, and quickly stepped out of the motel room.

Laura rubbed her face and Stiles sat down next to her, opening the bag and pulling the snacks out. “So, I’ve never seen Great British Bake Off,” Stiles said, pulling open the bag of chocolate pretzels and pointing them to Laura, who took one with a small grin. “Is it just like every other cooking contest show?”

“No, it’s so much better,” Laura said, pulling Stiles closer by the shoulder. “They’re actually nice to each other. And most of them are just like, grannies from the countryside. It’s the perfect mixture of silly and cute and pretty food.”

When Derek came back into the room, Laura was explaining the different dynamics between the contestants and the hosts. She paused to look up at him. “Thanks for taking care of that, Der.”

“Deaton is going to handle it,” Derek explained to Stiles. “He said he can make it look like Uncle Peter somehow woke up and stumbled out of the hospital. His room is actually near an exit that has a broken camera, which is honestly probably how he got out anyway, and Deaton said he can make his wounds look like he stumbled and fell, hitting the back of his head and stabbing himself accidentally.”

“Whoa,” Stiles murmured. “That’s insane but also makes complete sense.”

“Move over,” Derek said, pushing gently at Laura and Stiles, “I want to cuddle too and I don’t want to perch on the end of the bed.”

Laura laughed and crawled up the bed. Stiles settled himself next to her again, and after a minute she reached an arm around his shoulders again. Derek settled himself on Laura’s other side so his head was resting on her stomach, and brought the snacks up so everyone could reach them.

Three episodes later, Stiles’ phone dinged. It took some shuffling to get it out of his pocket, since he had snuggled closer to Laura and at some point Derek had thrown an arm over their legs and fallen asleep. He looked up groggily as Stiles dug his phone out.

“ _Just got home. Where are you?_ ” His dad had texted.

“Shit, I didn’t realize what time it is,” Stiles murmured. “ _Just leaving Scott’s. Be home in 5, ok?_ ”

“You have to go?” Derek asked, and Stiles couldn’t help but smile at Derek’s sleepy voice, and his sleepy face, and the funny tuft of his hair that was sticking up on the side.

“Yea, my dad’s home. I’m gonna take the Doritos, ok? It’ll be my bribe in case he asks too many questions.”

Laura leaned over and kissed Stiles’ hair line. “Thank you, Stiles.”

Derek squeezed his knee before settling down more on Laura’s lap. “See you Sunday for some more tutoring.”

Stiles was out the door in a minute and drove home just slightly above the speed limit the whole time. The motel was further from his house than Scott’s house was, and he really didn’t want his dad noticing the time discrepancy.

“Hey Scotty-boy,” Stiles said with a grin after Scott picked up. “My dad just got home, so I’m just confirming that I was indeed with you.”

“No problem,” Scott replied, and Stiles could hear his grin. “My mom still isn’t home. We’ve been playing video games and eating popcorn all night.”

“That sounds great,” Stiles laughed. “Can we actually do that? Tomorrow maybe?”

“Definitely, man. What time are we running again? Did you say 10?”

“That works, right? This way you still have time to shower and whatever before your date with Allison?”

“It’s not a date,” Scott whined. “We’re going to study.”

“Sure, right, of course,” Stiles laughed. “I’m home. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Pick me up,” Scott said quickly and hung up. Stiles laughed and hopped out of the car, making sure to grab the bag of Doritos.


	6. Introducing Isaac

Stiles tossed the empty can of Red Bull into the back seat as Scott climbed into the passenger seat. “Dude, you do not look so good,” Scott said.

“You should see the other guy,” Stiles laughed, and then instantly sobered up. “We found the omega last night. It… wasn’t fun.”

“Shit. What happened?”

“Laura and Derek mostly took care of him. I hit him with a bat.”

“That magic bat you were working on?”

Stiles grinned. Even though he hadn’t been able to spend as much time with Scott lately between their opposite shifts with Deaton, they did still manage to spend most of the school day together, and they texted almost constantly when they weren’t together.

“Yea. Deaton was really impressed by it.”

“He said that?” Scott shifted all the way around in his seat to face Stiles.

“No, of course he didn’t.” Stiles laughed. “But he did say that other than a bat made out of rowan wood, which I totally have to look into getting, this was about as powerful as I could have made it. He also said he’s going to rethink what he was planning to teach me so I’m going to learn about other weapons soon I guess.”

“Cool!”

Stiles parked the car in the same place he usually did, at the far side of the field from the Hale house. Stiles tried not to think about what had happened there last night.

“Laura and Derek really don’t mind us running here without them?” Scott asked as he hopped out of the Jeep.

“Nah, they said it’s fine,” Stiles said. “Laura’s working, and Derek is doing whatever he does during the day.”

“I can’t decide if he’s cool or weird,” Scott commented as they started jogging.

Stiles tried not to laugh. He definitely had a hard time deciding exactly what he thought and felt about Derek too, although “weird” wasn’t one of the top descriptions he was debating. “What do you mean?”

“Well, at first he seemed really chill. I mean, I knew he was stressed and relieved about Laura, but he still seemed like… I don’t know, a normal person who was dealing with shit. But now, sometimes, he seems totally uncomfortable, and other times he just seems angry for no good reason.”

“Or he just goes silent and does judgy eyebrows,” Stiles added on.

“Yes!” Scott laughed. They ran for a few more minutes in silence, before Scott asked, “So you don’t want to tell me more about what happened?”

“Last night?” Stiles asked. “Not really. It was intense. But the omega is gone. He won’t bother anyone anymore.” Stiles was trying to control his breathing as he spoke. “Then I went to their motel after and hung out.”

“And everything is alright?”

“I think so.”

Scott nodded and they kept running. Stiles knew that he would probably tell Scott all the details eventually, but they just seemed too real and too intense to talk about it now. There was a pretty big part of him that wished he didn’t have to remember everything in such vivid detail, like the crunching feeling the omega’s head had made when his bat made contact with it. Let Scott stay innocent a little bit longer.

Suddenly, Stiles saw something out of the corner of his eye. He was about to throw up a protective shield, but his brain caught up and he realized it wasn’t Derek or Laura, or any kind of threat.

Isaac’s curly hair was bouncing as he ran, and Stiles lifted a hand to wave at him. He nodded back and kept running. He was on a path that intersected with theirs, and after another minute he was running alongside them.

“Hey dude,” Scott said between breaths.

Isaac gave a little wave, then pointed at his earbuds. He apparently had no plan to take them out, but he kept running with them for the next fifteen minutes. After a while, they came to another fork in the paths. Isaac gave another little wave and took the other path.

Scott turned back to Stiles after waving and grinned, “Dude, it’s like, a sign!”

Stiles laughed. “I’ll tell Laura that he runs in the Preserve too, but this part is in the public area, so it’s not abnormal or anything.” Stiles struggled to get the last few phrases out since it felt like there was no more oxygen left inside his lungs.

“Turn back?” Scott asked, also breathing heavily.

“The next path on the left is a shortcut,” Stiles gasped. Scott nodded and they continued on.

When they got back to the car, Stiles saw a few trucks parked close to the house. Just as Scott and Stiles were getting into the Jeep, Derek pulled up.

“You want to go say hi to Derek?” Stiles asked. Scott nodded so they both got out and started walking toward the house.

Derek got out of the car and waved as they walked over. When they got close enough, Derek looked like he was going to reach out to hug Stiles, but then glanced over his shoulder at the house, where Stiles was sure he could hear the construction workers.

“How, uh… how was your run?” Derek asked, somewhat awkwardly.

“It was good,” Scott replied, grinning widely. “We also ran into Isaac for a while.”

Derek’s eyes widened and he looked at Stiles for confirmation. “We didn’t talk. He had in Air Pods, but we ran together for about fifteen minutes before the path split. He stayed closer to the neighborhood, so he’s probably running the loop from his house.”

Derek nodded. “I’ll let Laura know.” He squinted slightly. “How are you feeling, Stiles?”

Stiles let out a short laugh. “Shouldn’t I be asking how you’re doing? And how Laura is?”

Derek let out a big sigh. “We’ll both be fine. Laura is focused on work at least, so that’s keeping her busy. I used to work part-time for Jerry, the contractor, and he said he would let me help out around the house.”

“You’re a contractor?” Scott asked.

Derek shook his head. “No. I’m supposed to be applying to be a teacher, but schools aren’t really hiring at this point of the year. And I still have to take another test to get my state certification transferred to California.”

“That’s cool, Derek. I’m glad you have something to do. I was kind of worried you were going to sit in the dark motel room all alone and brood.” Stiles said quietly.

Derek stared at Stiles for a few seconds before he grinned ever so slightly. “The temptation was definitely there. But I knew Laura would yell at me if I didn’t do something while she was at work.”

“Is Jerry going to pay you?” Scott asked, eyeing the house.

Derek shrugged. “Probably not. I mean, I’m paying him to do this, basically. So maybe he’ll just give us a discount or something for my labor.”

“Oh that makes sense,” Scott nods.

“If you’re bored later, come over,” Stiles said. “I’m gonna go to Scott’s tonight for video games, but he has a date at the library at 2, so… I’ll be free if you want to hang.”

Derek rubbed at the back of his head. “Maybe. I’ll see when I finish up here.”

Stiles reached out and squeezed Derek’s shoulder, the most he was willing to do in view of the house, since Derek had seemed reluctant to hug him. He didn’t know what to say, so he just let go after a minute and turned to walk back to his car. Scott waved and followed him. Stiles could feel Derek’s eyes on his back as he walked, and he was still watching them when they got into Stiles’ Jeep.

*

Stiles sighed as he got up from the table to answer the door. He had initially thought it might have been one of his neighbors, because who else would knock in the middle of the afternoon without texting first? But as he moved toward the door, he grinned as he sensed the golden aura on the other side of the door.

“I like having magic because I can tell it's you,” he said softly while he was still halfway across the living room, knowing that Derek would hear him. He swung the door opened and his grin widened even more at the sight of Derek standing there, clutching a few books to his chest and glancing around nervously. “You okay?”

Derek let out a choked laugh, “Sometimes doing normal things…” Derek shook his head. “I brought you some books.”

“I see,” Stiles said with a laugh. “Come on in.”

Derek stepped in and looked around as Stiles closed the door behind him. “Come on, I’ve got my stuff on the dining room table. You want a drink? I’ve got some chips on the table, too, if you want any.”

Derek followed Stiles and accepted a can of seltzer when Stiles got one for himself too. Derek sat and put his books on the table near Stiles’ spread-out schoolwork, but didn’t say anything.

Stiles grinned, watching as Derek continued to look around and take deep breaths as if cataloging everything around him. When Stiles propped his chin on his hand to get more comfortable while waiting, Derek finally seemed to realize what he was doing and glanced down, blushing slightly.

“Sorry,” he murmured.

Stiles chuckled, “It’s no problem, dude. Luckily I’m getting used to you and Laura’s weird wolfy ways.” Derek laughed softly in return and Stiles felt a small tingle in his stomach. “So tell me about these books.”

Derek sat up straighter and pushed the books towards Stiles, “I thought you would find them interesting. Two of them are werewolf histories that Laura and I picked up.” He showed Stiles the different books, “This one is a non-fiction about Lafayette’s role during the Revolutionary War and it’s really interesting, and this one is a historical fantasy what the Napoleanic wars would have been like if dragons were real and like, a branch of the military.”

Stiles’ eyes widened. “That sounds amazing.”

Derek grinned, “Yea, I kind of figured you’d like them.”

“Hey, wait,” Stiles said, jumping up, “You want to look at some of Deaton’s books?” He ran upstairs to his room and was back down within a minute. “I’ve read these three already.”

Derek took them before glancing back up at Stiles, “Deaton wouldn’t mind me having them?”

Stiles shrugged and shook his head, “I’ll check with him tomorrow, but why would he? He specified that I shouldn’t ‘just leave them around so anyone could find them,’ but you’re not just anyone. You’re special.” Derek glanced up at Stiles and Stiles ducked his head, willing his cheeks not to color. “You know, because you’re pack,” Stiles finished lamely.

Derek put one book back on the table near Stiles, “I’ll take these two, thanks. That one looks like it’s just about the theory and mechanics of magic, so I don’t know how much good it would do me.”

Stiles picked it back up, “You’re right, actually. I want to go through some of these things again anyway. Do you think Deaton would be okay with me scanning it? I found this program that can scan books into like, word documents, that way things are searchable. I feel like that would make things so much easier, so if I need something I don’t have to try to remember what book it was in or anything like that.”

“I mean, as long as it’s not stored on Google Docs or anything that would be easy to hack or anything, I’m sure that would be fine.”

Stiles grinned, “Awesome.” They sat there silently for a moment before Stiles waved at his books. "I was just studying... but we could watch tv or something, if you want?"

Derek hesitated before shrugging. “I don’t have anything else to do until Laura comes home. Do you mind if I start reading? You can keep studying and we can fight over the chips."

"Sounds perfect," Stiles said with a grin.

*

“So I introduced myself to Isaac,” Laura said a few days later as she walked into the motel room where Derek and Stiles were studying. She dropped her keys onto her bed and walked towards the bathroom. “God I can’t wait till the house is done. I’m so tired of this motel.”

“How’d it go?” Stiles asked.

She shrugged. “Good, I think. I wish I could ask Mom how she started it out. I feel vaguely like a creep since I’m like… just too old to be hitting on an 18-year-old. If I were like… a mom, I think it would be less weird.” She shrugged again and turned on the shower before stepping back out while it warmed up. “I got a good feeling from him though, Stiles. I think you made a good first choice.”

Stiles beamed and Derek shot him a small smile. Laura stepped over and kissed the top of Stiles’ head before reaching out and ruffling Derek’s hair. He frowned at her and she laughed before finally stepping into the bathroom and closing the door.

Stiles and Derek both went back to their respective books. Stiles only occasionally asked Derek for help now, but he really just enjoyed being with him while he studied. After a bit, Laura stepped back out in just a towel and started going through the drawers to pick out clothing.

“Laura, can I do anything to help with Isaac?” Stiles asked, leaning back and chewing on his pen. Derek sat back too and watched Stiles with a strange expression. Stiles shrugged; some people just were grossed out when others chew on pens, so he took it out of his mouth and wiped it on his pants.

Laura shook her head as she pulled out a pair of shorts. “For now, I want you to focus more on training your Spark, and school, and all of your other things. I’ll handle this for the most part. If he comes up to you at school, be available but not pushy. Don’t go out of your way to talk to him and don’t initiate anything, but if he starts a conversation, go with it.”

“It’s a delicate balance,” Derek added, “Laura has to feel him out, make sure he’s the right fit for us, and get him interested without weirding him out or anything. We want to give him enough information so that he knows what he’s getting into, but not so much information that he knows about us if he chooses not to take the bite.”

Stiles nodded. “Got it. Available but not pushy. I think I can do that.”

*

“So Laura said I could ask you questions and you’d answer them,” Isaac said a few days later as Stiles closed his locker. Stiles half-shouted and nearly dropped his backpack because he hadn’t realized that Isaac was standing there. Isaac just smirked at him and raised an eyebrow. Damn he really was the right choice to join the Hale pack. He had the eyebrow control to fit right in.

“Yea, I guess so,” Stiles admitted.

“It’s not like a cult or anything, right? Like, she’s for real?”

“Walk with me?” Stiles said as he started heading towards his AP Chem class. Isaac fell in step. “I don’t know what she told you exactly,” Stiles started, “but it’s not a cult. She’s legit.”

“Are you one of them?”

Stiles chuckled, “Nah, I’m something else.”

Isaac smirked again, “And what, if you tell me, you’ll have to kill me?”

“No, but if you join the pack, I’ll tell you,” Stiles said with his own smirk.

“I’m pulling your number from the team group text and texting you, alright? I’ve got more questions.”

Just as Stiles opened his mouth to speak, the bane of his earthly existence, Jackson, appeared behind Isaac and said loudly, “Lahey what are you doing with this loser?”

“Just getting those digits,” Isaac drawled with a smirk. Was that just a permanent expression on his face? “You know how it is,” Isaac said, giving Lydia a wink. “Stiles, I’ll hit you up later,” Isaac said, blowing a kissy-face at him and walking off.

Stiles laughed at Jackson’s slack-jawed look of shock and walked into his chem class, followed closely by Lydia, “Isaac asked you out?”

“Isaac asked for my number,” Stiles corrected, even though that wasn’t exactly true either. He figured he’d roll with Isaac’s story, even though it seemed to very heavily imply that they were potentially dating.

“You know he’s kind of trouble,” Lydia half-whispered. “He almost got arrested last semester!”

“Why, Lydia,” Stiles asked with mock outrage, covering his chest, “are you worried about my honor?”

“I just don’t want my competition to slack or get distracted,” she whispered back.

“If Mr. Tall, Dumb, and Handsome hasn’t managed to tank your grades, I think I can manage to expand my social or romantic circle,” Stiles whispered back. He knew that he considered Lydia his most direct competition for Valedictorian, but it was gratifying having her verbalize it too.

She arched her eyebrows, “That’s what you call Jackson?”

“Only when I’m feeling kind,” Stiles snarked. He pulled his phone out as it buzzed, “ _Sorry I made it seem like I was hitting on you to Jackson. I panicked and figured his latent homophobia would make him drop it.”_

Stiles grinned, “ _No prob - although Lydia is warning me that I can’t let my grades drop if I start dating you_.”

“ _😂😂😂 I’ll try not to distract you_.”

“ _Are you even into guys? Didn’t you date like four different girls last year?_ ”

“ _Wouldn’t you like to know_.” Stiles rolled his eyes and then nearly dropped his phone when it buzzed four times in quick succession. “ _But yea, I’m pan.” “It’s just easier to ask girls out sometimes.” “There aren’t too many guys who are out at school, so it’s not like there’s a bunch of options.” “Wait why – are you into guys?”_

“ _Yea - I’m bi_ ,” Stiles responded. “ _And I’m pretty sure my chem teacher is about to murder me so shh_ ”

Stiles put his phone on silent and shoved it deep into his pocket, turning his full focus on his chem teacher and trying not to grin.

*

That night Stiles groaned when he looked at the clock. It was eleven and he still hadn’t finished his homework. After working with Deaton for a few hours he had come home to find that his dad had cooked before going on the night shift… but hadn’t cleaned anything up. He warmed up the leftovers and was glad to see that his dad had included two different vegetables and brown rice, and then cleaned the whole kitchen. He hadn’t started homework until after eight, and then he had gotten distracted in the middle when he decided to meditate and feel for the bonds with Derek and Laura as practice.

“ _So… I didn’t really mean it before… but do you really want to go on a date?_ ” Isaac texted.

“… _I’m calling. Pick up._ ”

Stiles video called Isaac and he picked up on the first ring. “Uh, hey,” Stiles said, smiling when the first shot of Isaac he got was mostly just curly hair.

Isaac fixed the camera and Stiles saw that he was laying in bed and grinning. “So is that a no? Are you trying to let me down gently already?”

Stiles shook his head, “This is actually killing me to ask… but do you really want to date me or are you just gratified to find a guy besides Danny who might be into you?”

“Uh… maybe it’s both?” Isaac’s eyes shifted to the side and Stiles thought he could see a blush on his cheeks, but it was dark so he couldn’t be sure.

Stiles laughed. “Look. I wouldn’t want us dating to get in the way of the pack at all. So… you make your decision, and either way, we’ll see how it goes after that?”

“But like… whatever choice I make… you might… still…?”

Stiles nodded. “Dude you were right before. I mean, I feel worse for Danny, since he’s the only guy who’s completely out at school, but it’s hard…”

“And scary,” Isaac agreed.

“Yea,” Stiles agreed. “Lucky for you though, you pretended to hit on a guy who you actually stand a chance with. Scott’s jaw would have just hit the floor if you did that with him.” Isaac laughed and then silence fell between them. After a moment, Stiles turned and laid down on his bed. “So… you said you had questions about what Laura said?”

Isaac laughed, “Yea, that was why I originally came up to you today. How did you distract me with your alluring ways?”

Stiles barked a laugh, “Dude, if by alluring ways, you mean you wanted to mock Jackson, and then you mocking Jackson led to me admitting I’m not straight… then yea, I guess we share the fact that we’re both kind of assholes and we’re also both kind of into guys? That distraction?”

Isaac held his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter, but Stiles could see that his shoulders were shaking with it. “That exactly,” Isaac managed after a minute. Stiles sighed and then Isaac turned back to the screen again. “But really… Is Laura a werewolf? She didn’t use that word… but it’s the closest I could make sense of what she was saying.”

Stiles nearly choked, “Look, I don’t know what she told you, like I said before, and I don’t want to interfere…” Stiles put a hand over his face. How did “available but not pushy” lead to him and Isaac joking about dating and then Isaac straight up asking if Laura was a werewolf? He had promised not to interfere… but how could he blow off Isaac’s question and still gain his trust? Stiles sighed, “But um… yea. Laura’s our Alpha, like, the boss, but she’s really just like, a big sister? And she’s awesome.”

“Yea?” Isaac asked with a grin. “She seemed cool.”

“She really is. And like… She doesn’t have mom vibes at all, but she totally rocks the big sister vibes all the way. Her brother, Derek, he’s part of the pack too, and he’s awesome. He’s kind of snarky, but also I’m almost positive that he’s secretly a softie.”

“Is that the whole pack?” Isaac asked after a few seconds. “Laura said that she wanted to build the pack, but I didn’t know how many people were already in it.”

“For now it’s just the three of us,” Stiles responded. “But you’ll be the fourth, and the first, like, official new werewolf.”

“So you’re not a werewolf?” Isaac asked. “Just confirming.”

Stiles smirked, “I think I’m gonna keep this a secret. Just, you know, until you make up your mind.” Isaac’s eyes widened, and Stiles quickly went on, “I’m not, like, anything scary. I promise.”

“But you want me to do it,” Isaac prompted. “Join the pack.”

“Yea, dude, otherwise we wouldn’t have asked.”

“But Laura was the one who asked,” Isaac pointed out.

“She wouldn’t have asked if we weren’t okay with it,” Stiles pointed out. “Plus, she hasn’t lived here in years. How do you think she even knew who you were?”

Isaac’s eyes widened again. “You picked me?”

Stiles shrugged. “I made a list. You were at the top of it.”

Isaac just stared for a moment. “Can I see the list? Wait, no, don’t tell me. If I join the pack I can see the list.”

Stiles grinned. “Of course. Once you’re part of the pack, you get a say on who joins.”

“For real?”

“Of course. Derek can still technically veto you, by the way, since he hasn’t met you, but I know he won’t. He trusts Laura, and I’m pretty sure he trusts me too, for whatever reason.”

“But, if it’s just the three of you, can’t you and Laura outvote him? Like, it’s two to one.”

Stiles shrugged. “I don’t really know. I’m still kind of new to all this too. And since you’re the first new person to join our little pack,” Stiles shrugged. “But I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be unanimous.”

Isaac grinned. “But you picked me, so you’re obviously on my side.”

“And so is Laura, by the way,” Stiles added. “And you’ve got the eyebrow communication down pat, so they’re both going to love you.”

“Eyebrow communication?”

Stiles laughed loudly, “Yea. You communicate with your eyebrows just like they both do. It’s kind of hard to notice with the lacrosse helmets on, but you definitely do it.”

Isaac chuckled and then fell silent again. After a moment or two, during which Stiles fidgeted with his pillow, Isaac asked, “Stiles, you really picked me? Me? Why?”

Stiles fell still. “Honestly?” Isaac nodded. “For a couple of reasons. You fit the demographic that Laura was looking for. But you were the top of the list for a couple of reasons…” Stiles hesitated. “I feel like there’s no good way to say this… but I suspect your dad is really shitty, even though you’ve never really said anything about it,” Isaac’s eyes widened and he glanced over his shoulder, even though Stiles couldn’t see anyone in the dark. Isaac nodded slowly. “And the pack is kind of like, a family, and I figured you could only really benefit from having a super close and supportive new family.” Isaac grinned shyly. “Plus, as much as we’ve never been close, I’ve always gotten the vibe that you’re kind of an asshole, but in the best possible way, like, you’re a jerk who is actually nice, not like an actual asshole, like Jackson.”

“More like you?” Isaac asked.

“Ha, ha,” Stiles said, “but yea, kind of. Like, you can snark with the best of us, but you’re not actually a bad person.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Stiles questioned.

“Yea. I think… I think I’m going to say ‘yes’ to Laura.”

Stiles grinned widely, “Dude that’s awesome.”

“Yea?” Isaac asked. He was grinning, but he still didn’t quite sound sure about himself.

“Yea,” Stiles echoed. “Plus, if you want, you can still ask more questions before the bite. If you say yes, you have until Friday to make up your mind.”

“What’s Friday?”

“The night before the new moon,” Stiles answered. “Laura said it would be the best time to do it, since it’ll give you plenty of time to learn control.”

“I have to learn control? Over what?” Isaac asked, straightening a little.

Stiles waved and got closer to the screen, “I don’t know that it’s a ‘have to’ type thing so much as… you know how people blame a lot of things we do on hormones?” Isaac shrugged. “It’s kind of like, you’ll just have a new set of hormones. Werewolf hormones.” Stiles laughed. “Honestly, Laura would be much better at explaining this particular part of it.”

*

“Why does the front door say ‘closed’?” Stiles asked as he let himself in through the back door of Deaton’s clinic.

“Because we’re going on a field trip today,” Deaton replied with a smirk.

“Yea?” Stiles grinned. “Where?”

“To Laura’s house. The workers should all be done for the day. Grab the mountain ash, please.” Deaton zipped up his bag and headed for the door. Stiles dashed to grab the container of mountain ash that Deaton had specified was for his training and followed him out the door. After locking up, Stiles climbed into Deaton’s car and they drove over to Laura’s.

“So what are we doing today?” Stiles asked as he climbed out of Deaton’s car.

“You’re going to put a ward around Laura’s entire house,” Deaton said. “I’m going to try to stop you. Don’t let me.”

Stiles squinted at him, but shrugged. He pulled out the mountain ash and started walking around the house. He kept glancing back at Deaton, but since he was standing still, Stiles shrugged and went around the rest of the house.

By the time he got back around to his starting point, there was no mountain ash. He froze and looked up at Deaton, who was standing there, smiling blandly. It didn’t look like he had moved, but he had clearly done something to the trail of Stiles’ mountain ash.

Stiles took a few paces away and saw where his trail ended. He tossed a handful of ash towards it and grinned in satisfaction as it drifted and fell into line, closing the ten-foot gap that Deaton had created.

He looked at Deaton again and the grin fell off his face as Deaton reached his hand out and easily broke the barrier, “Hey!” Stiles shouted, lunging. Deaton sidestepped him, swept his hand out, and all of the mountain ash Stiles had dropped flew neatly into Deaton’s hand.

His entire line of ash was gone.

“Practicing with the werewolves has definitely helped you develop quickly in your defensive areas, but you still need to focus on other things. For example, how was I able to break your ward so easily?”

Stiles crossed his arms and bit back several remarks. Finally he said, “You can manipulate the mountain ash the same way I can. If I want to really stop you, I would need to put down an additional barrier, maybe on the outside of the ash, to protect it.”

Deaton nodded. “Why else might a double ward be useful?”

“Well,” Stiles said, rubbing at the back of his head, “The mountain ash would only stop supernatural beings from crossing it. I can make a ward that stops regular people too.” Deaton nodded and made a “continue” gesture, so Stiles kept talking, trying to figure it out as he went. “And that could be useful because… well, the mountain ash could be used to trap the werewolves, which I don’t want to do, but it could also be used to keep them out of somewhere. But then the other ward could do the same thing for regular people! I could put up the ward to keep people out of somewhere!”

“And when might you want to keep people out of somewhere?”

Stiles snapped his fingers. “Tomorrow night! Laura’s planning to bite Isaac! If I put up a double ward, I can ensure that nobody interrupts or panics Isaac!”

Deaton nodded. “You can also ward the house during the full moons, at least in the beginning, until Isaac has the shift under control.”

Stiles turned to look up at the house. He had never watched a house get built before, but it was really impressive how much work had gotten done in only three weeks. It basically looked like a brand new house now.

“Won’t Laura and Derek be uncomfortable being trapped in my ward though?” Stiles mused, looking at the house.

“I would definitely recommend talking to them about it first,” Deaton replied slowly. “They trust you, but even so, it is asking a lot of them.” He handed the mountain ash back to Stiles. “Try again.”

After several attempts, Stiles was able to put both wards up even with Deaton’s interference. Stiles found that the trick was to put up the human-ward first, and then layer down the mountain ash. The hard part came though when Deaton started pushing at the outer ward. He had brought along several different herbs and metals that could apparently alter or affect his Spark’s magic. Stiles grimaced as he held his hands in front of him, but realized eventually that if he poured enough energy into the ward, that he was able to keep it up regardless of what Deaton tried.

“Alright, Stiles, you can take the wards down. You’ve done an excellent job today.”

Stiles stared at Deaton with his mouth open. He wiped at the sweat that was dripping down the sides of his face. “That was an excellent job? I feel like I’ve been run over by a magical truck.”

Deaton chuckled. “Precisely. You dealt with or absorbed all of my attacks. The last three times you didn’t drop your wards no matter what I did.”

“But… but I’m exhausted,” Stiles gasped out. “And I’m sweating like I just ran suicide drills. And my Spark hasn’t felt this weak since… well… ever.”

Deaton nodded again and pulled out a small towel from his bag before tossing it to Stiles. “Yes, you expended quite a lot of energy, but you didn’t drain yourself, which is actually impressive. Come on, you can dry yourself off while we drive back to the clinic. Then you can meditate for a while. I want you to get a feeling for your Spark while it’s this depleted so you'll know how it feels and you can learn what it feels like when it replenishes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The two books that Derek gives Stiles are "His Majesty's Dragon" by Naomi Novik and "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States" by Sarah Vowell.


	7. Four

Stiles pulled up in front of Isaac’s house just before 7 on Friday night, and Isaac instantly ran out, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

“Hey, you can start driving,” he said as soon as he jumped in.

Stiles didn’t hesitate; he figured that Isaac wanted to avoid his dad as much as possible. “Did you eat?”

Isaac nodded, “Just a little though.”

“Nervous?”

Isaac laughed shortly. “Yea, maybe a little. You’re sure this isn’t a cult?”

“I promise,” Stiles said, shooting a grin at Isaac. “Although you’re just going to have to trust me… because we’re going into the Preserve and Laura’s house isn’t finished being renovated so it looks a little sketchy, but I swear to god we’re not going to kill you or anything.”

Isaac laughed. “Can I still change my mind? What if we went on an actual date instead of just pretending to go on a date?”

Stiles glanced over, “You really want to change your mind?” Isaac shrugged. “Of course you can, dude. Laura will only go through with it if you’re totally on board.”

“Yea?”

“What if we go, and I chicken out last minute, will you still drive me home?”

Stiles held his hand out and after a minute’s hesitation, Isaac put his in and Stiles squeezed. “Of course. All you have to do is ask, and we’ll be out of there. And Laura and Derek will understand completely and they won’t try to stop you or anything.”

“You’re sure?”

“I am,” Stiles said resolutely. “Remember what you asked me the other day?” Isaac nodded again, and Stiles gently removed his hand from Isaac’s, but left it down low. He thought lumos in his head, mostly because Deaton had gotten visibly annoyed that he kept saying it out loud, and a small ball of light appeared in Stiles’ hand.

Isaac pointed at it and said “Whoa,” when it just sort of wobbled at his touch.

Stiles glanced down at it, impressed even though he had done this hundreds of times in the past few weeks. “I promise you Isaac, I’ve got your back.”

When Stiles parked the Jeep near the front porch, he waved at Laura as she waited on the porch for them. Stiles grabbed his bag from the back and rushed to give Laura a hug. Isaac followed a little slower, “We’re huggers,” Laura said somewhat apologetically.

Isaac chuckled and stepped in for a hug too.

“You’ll get used to it,” Stiles said, “it’s nice, actually.”

“Isaac, I’d like you to meet my brother,” Laura said, and Derek appeared at the top of the porch steps. “This is Derek.”

Derek trotted down the steps and held his hand out. “No hug?” Isaac laughed as he reached out and shook Derek’s hand. Derek grinned and pulled Isaac in for a hug.

Laura pointed up at the house, “We’re renovating this, since we just came back from New York, where we lived for a few years. Do you want a tour?”

Isaac nodded and followed Laura up the stairs. As they walked, Stiles stepped in closer to Derek, who gave him a one-armed hug before they both walked up the stairs together. Laura brought everyone on a tour of the house, even though most of it involved pointing at what she was hoping to do. The plumbers and electricians had been there that week, so all the lights worked, which was better than the last time Stiles had been in the house. The whole house had been sealed, so all the exterior walls and the windows were done, but only some of the sheetrock had been put up inside, so some of the rooms just had hanging light bulbs, where Laura swore that nicer things would be installed eventually.

“You’ve got a lot of bedrooms,” Isaac observed after Laura pointed out the fifth one.

Laura nodded. “Well, we’re fixing it up to pretty closely match the house the way it used to be, and we had a big pack then.”

“So, what, I’d have my own bedroom?”

“If you want one,” Laura replied.

Isaac’s eyebrows shot up, “Really?”

“We have the space,” Laura answered with a small grin. “Stiles already called dibs on the one at the end, though.”

“Just until someone actually needs it,” Stiles added. “I’m going to live home, obviously, but… it’ll just be cool to have a room here to sleep in.”

Isaac grinned, “Alright I could see the attraction of that.”

After they came back to the living room area, Laura pointed to the air mattresses, camping chairs, and backpacks. “So I know this is a little ridiculous, but I brought my laptop and like three bags of snacks, and I figured we could watch Netflix and just hang out. I feel bad that I’m not offering you something fancier, Isaac.”

Isaac waved it off, “Stiles explained a little about how it’s best to do it at a new moon, so I get that you can’t control the timing or whatever. Plus we can just pretend we’re glamping or something.”

Derek nearly spit his drink out and started laughing and coughing all at once. Stiles stepped over to pat his back consolingly, “I think that was the best reaction ever to the use of the word ‘glamping.’”

Isaac laughed, “Derek I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Derek choked out, red in the face but still laughing. “That was amazing. I love it.” He looked over at Laura, “Our first pack night in the house is glamping.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine, we’re glamping then.”

Isaac raised his hand slightly as if asking a question in class and Laura smiled, “Sorry, I know we get carried away sometimes.”

“Can I see it?” Isaac asked softly.

Derek managed to pull himself together, but Laura did one of her eyebrow lifts. “What? The shift?” Isaac nodded once and Laura looked to Derek, “Would you?”

Derek nodded and stepped a little closer. “Most werewolves shift into what we call the Beta shift,” he explained as he slowly started the shift. Stiles had never watched him do it so intentionally before, so he paid close attention. He could see the hair and bone structure of his face changing, and the tell-tale blue glow from his eyes came through almost instantly. “You and I will be able to do this. It isn’t drastically strange or anything. Look, I have claws now,” Derek held out his hands open palmed, and Isaac reached out to turn them over and study them. “And my face looks different, I know, Stiles, you can stop staring so much, but appearance-wise that’s about it. But in this shift, our senses are more sensitive and we’re stronger.”

“Where do your eyebrows go?” Stiles asked. Derek rolled his eyes. “No, I mean, you just normally have such expressive eyebrows, and now they’re gone. How am I supposed to know how to read your expressions?”

“Does this help?” Derek asked and he leaned towards Stiles and growled. Stiles jumped slightly and burst out laughing, reaching out to pat Derek’s cheek.

Isaac just watched the exchange with wide eyes. He took a deep, shaky breath and asked, “Laura… is your… shift different?”

She nodded. “I can do the full shift to a wolf, although I don’t need to since I can still access the Beta shift too. But in order to turn into a wolf, I like to take my clothes off first, because my other option is to either tear them apart or get stuck in my clothes, and neither one is particularly dignified.”

Isaac chuckled, “Okay, fair enough. And… Laura I know you said we don’t turn into wild animals or anything at the full moon… but what happens?”

“That’s all Hollywood garbage,” Derek explained, slowly shifting back. Isaac watched the claws slowly shift into regular fingernails. “The wolf is in us all the time, and in the beginning it might be hard for you to learn how to control it, which is part of why we’re here on a Friday night, so you have a couple days to work on it before going back to school or anything.”

“At the full moon,” Laura continued, “the wolf is stronger, so we’re going to spend the first few together to make sure you don’t lose control, because that could be bad, but after that, once you’re confident about your control, you’ll have the freedom to choose what you want to do on full moons.”

“Okay, so I could still do whatever I want on a full moon?” Laura nodded. “But I could also hang out with you guys?” Laura nodded again. Isaac nodded a few times in a row. “Okay, and Stiles has magic?”

“He is our pack emissary and Spark,” Laura explained. “There are a few different kinds of people who can use magic, and Stiles is the most powerful kind.”

“No shit! Like Doctor Strange?” Isaac asked.

Stiles laughed and shrugged, “I’m kind of more like Neville right now, but I’m working on things. I really only started figuring things out a few weeks ago.”

“Okay.” Isaac turned to face Laura and nodded again.

“Okay?” She asked.

“How do we… how do you do it?”

Laura grinned. “I’ll bite you. The side, just under your ribs, is the best because it’s on the torso and doesn’t bleed that much. It’ll hurt. I’m sorry. But then in just a few hours you’ll change into a werewolf and it’ll completely heal.” Isaac nodded. “Derek and Stiles are going to give us privacy for a couple minutes, and then when we’re done we get to start snack time and Netflix.”

Stiles waited for Isaac to nod to him again and gave him a quick thumbs up. Isaac shot him a quick grin, although Stiles could tell that he was still fighting his nerves.

Stiles nodded to Laura and stepped outside, pulling the packet of mountain ash out of his pocket and walking about ten feet away from the house. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Derek was keeping pace with him a step or two behind him and joked, “Are you my quality control?”

Derek laughed and shrugged, “I mean I was just keeping you company out here in the dark, but yea, I guess I can be quality control also.”

“My own big bad wolf to protect me against things that go bump in the night,” Stiles play-swooned.

“I am one of the things that goes bump in the night,” Derek growled.

“Oh my god,” Stiles gasped out, “That was a legitimate joke, with the matching scary growl to go with it. I’m blown away. Actually, it was your second scary growl joke of the night. This is amazing.”

Derek bumped gently on Stiles’ shoulder, being careful not to jostle him enough to interrupt the mountain ash line he was slowly letting fall from his hand. “I make jokes.”

“Yea, yea,” Stiles agreed. “I mean, I’m technically one of the things that goes bump in the night too, aren’t I?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Deaton keeps explaining the differences between Sparks and Druids, and being a druid is all about maintaining the balance between things, like good and evil, and nature and humanity, and all that. But a Spark? We’re just power. Are there bad Sparks? Because that would be fucking scary.”

Derek was silent for a few paces. “I guess so. I don’t know, honestly. But my mom used to always say ‘We’re predators, but that doesn’t mean we have to be killers.’ I think it’s kind of the same with Sparks. You have the power to do bad things, but you get to make the choice.”

Stiles grinned and brushed his hands together, getting the last of the mountain ash off. He focused on his Spark and reinforced the mountain ash ward with a secondary ward of his own. Now no supernatural or regular human would be able to cross the wards in either direction. “How does it feel?”

Derek returned the grin and reached his hand out until it hit the invisible barrier. “Perfect.”

Stiles surged forward and hugged Derek. “Thanks for that, by the way. I wish I could have known your mom. She sounds awesome.”

Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles and they just stood there for a few moments, before Derek lifted his head. “They’re done. Ready to go inside?”

When they walk back into the house, Isaac was sitting on one of the mattresses leaning against the wall. He gave a little wave with his free hand while holding an ice pack against his side. “Laura said this will be all healed by morning?” He gestured with his chin towards where Laura was pulling bags of snacks out of her backpack.

Derek nodded, “You won’t even have scars.”

“Sweet,” Isaac said with a grin, taking the drink that Stiles handed him as he settled nearby.

“Want to see something else cool?” Derek asked, settling on Isaac’s other side. When Isaac nodded, Derek reached a hand out and placed it over Isaac’s hand as it held the ice pack. Black lines traced up Derek’s hand and Isaac let a breath out. “We can take people’s pain away.”

“Dude that is so cool!” Stiles said, leaning over so he could get a better look at the lines on Derek’s hand and arm. “I didn’t know that! What are those black lines? Is that like… a manifestation of the pain? What does that even mean?”

“I don’t really care,” Isaac said, “because this is magical.”

Stiles squinted at Derek dramatically. “Isn’t that supposed to be my thing?” Derek stuck his tongue out at Stiles who laughed in return.

Laura patted Stiles’ back as she sank down to sit next to him. “Yes of course, but we have a few tricks up our sleeves too.” Laura passed around the bags of snacks and drinks and settled down. “The bathrooms all work, and there's one just down the hall, but there’s no door on it, so just keep that in mind. If you want more privacy, there are five bathrooms upstairs. None of them have doors either, but they’re at least further away." 

After arguing for a few minutes about what to watch on Netflix, they finally agreed and settled down. After most of the snacks were gone and everyone had made at least one awkward trip to the bathroom, Isaac eventually fell asleep.

“So how’s it going so far? I don’t know what normal is,” Stiles whispered.

“I think everything is going to be fine,” Laura said with a tired grin. Derek put an arm around her shoulders. Her shoulders relaxed for the first time in hours and she sighed. “I didn’t want to worry him at all, but this is nerve-wracking.”

“By the time he wakes, the transformation should be complete,” Derek added on for Stiles’ benefit.

“Derek and I are going to sleep in shifts,” Laura said, “but you should get your sleep Stiles.”

“I love you both dearly,” Stiles said with a wry grin, “but there is about an 8% chance of me actually falling asleep tonight.” At their identical confused Hale eyebrows, Stiles explained. “I’m a bad sleeper. I basically need the stars to align in order to sleep well. Like, perfect pillow, blanket, temperature, sound level, anxiety level, the whole thing. Your shell of a house is very exciting so far, but far from ideal.”

“Wait I knew you don’t sleep a lot,” Derek protested, “I didn’t realize it was because you’re picky.”

“Picky?” Stiles whisper-shouted. “Dude I would love it if this was just pickiness. If I were picky, I could just buy a new pillowcase or change the temperature on the AC. This is practically pathological and has led me to be sleep-deprived ever since my mom died.”

“It only started then?” Laura asked quietly. Stiles nodded. “I have an idea then. Come here.” She gestured towards the space next to her on the air mattress.

“You want to… cuddle?” Stiles asked.

“You’ve taken to our pack ways faster than I would have thought possible for someone not raised in one,” Laura said. “Whenever one of us is upset or troubled, physical contact makes it better. I’m not promising I’ll fix whatever the underlying issue is, but I bet that being close will help.”

Stiles shrugged and gingerly made his way over to Laura. After shifting around for a minute or two, he finally settled down. She gently wrapped an arm across his waist and snuggled close so that Stiles was the little spoon. “Now try to sleep.”

Stiles mentally shrugged and started his routine of going over everything he had done so far that day. Before he even got to lunch time, he was asleep.

*

Stiles woke when the sun started rising, he blinked around and saw that Laura was asleep next to him. She had one arm thrown over her eyes and a leg tangled with Stiles’. He looked around and saw that Derek was leaning against one of the walls, reading.

“I guess I never realized the true value of curtains,” Stiles joked softly. Derek looked up and grinned. “How’s Isaac?”

Derek pointed with his chin. “How does he feel to you?”

Stiles looked over at Isaac where he was sleeping a few feet away. He watched as Isaac’s chest rose and fell a few times before he reached into his Spark in the way that was starting to become familiar. He could feel the strings that lead to Laura and Derek; both glowed brightly. There was another string now, fainter and somewhat tenuous, but it led directly towards Isaac, who was glowing a faint golden color, even though it was somehow different from Derek’s shade of gold. He nudged at the string of magic a little, and felt satisfied that it felt essentially the same as Laura and Derek’s strings, even if it wasn’t as strong yet.

Stiles looked back at Derek finally. “He feels like you two.”

Derek nodded, satisfied. “The transformation went smoothly. That was the first challenge. Now we have to give him a crash course in what it means to be a werewolf and how to control himself. We don’t want him to miss any more school than necessary, but he can’t go back until he can demonstrate at least some control.”

“Will I be able to help? Since I’ll be at school, right? Won’t he get that vibe of pack from me, even if we’re not in the same classes?”

“Probably,” Laura murmured from next to Stiles. “That’s part of why we wanted you here this weekend, so that he can bond with you as much as with us. The pack bond is automatic with us, although it does need to be nurtured. With you though… I’m not completely sure. I don't know what it’s like for a newly bitten wolf and a still-in-training Spark.”

“I can feel the bond,” Stiles replied. “It isn’t as strong as the one with you two, but it’s there already.”

Laura yawned next to him. “We have to get curtains,” she added.

“That’s what I said,” Stiles replied with a grin. “So… what should we expect when he wakes up. Will he be all wild, or will he just his regular self?”

“He’ll probably be totally normal,” Laura answered. “But since we’re up now, Derek, would you mind running to get breakfast?”

“Why don’t I go?” Stiles asked.

“Well, for one, Isaac has known you longer,” Laura pointed out, “so waking up to a familiar face should be comforting.”

“And secondly, anyone who sees a teenager walking around at 6:30 in the morning on a weekend is going to ask a ton of questions. I can get in and out of town without attracting as much attention.” Derek rose and stretched as he talked, and Stiles tried not to notice the view of his toned abs as his shirt lifted.

“Ah, the benefits of being old,” Stiles joked. “I guess I get to stay comfy here.”

Derek kicked gently at Stiles’ leg, “No, you need to let me out of the barrier and put it back up while I’m out.”

“And then let him back in again,” Laura said, rolling over. “I get to stay comfy here though.”

Stiles poked at her side and then jumped out of bed as she swatted at him. “Fine, fine, I’ll go do my job, I guess.”

*

About 40 minutes later, Laura poked at Stiles and whispered, “Derek is pulling up.”

Stiles groaned but got up. Derek was waiting at the mountain ash line when Stiles walked up. “Please tell me you got coffee,” he grumbled as he opened up the ward.

Derek stepped in and showed Stiles the box of coffee he was holding.

“Oh my god, I could kiss you,” Stiles groaned as he reached for the box.

Derek skipped out of reach, “Ward first, then coffee.”

Stiles made a shooing gesture towards the mountain ash and felt the ward pull back into place. He added the secondary ward with his Spark and then turned back to Derek. “There. I’ve earned my keep. Can I please have the coffee now?”

Derek smirked, “What are you going to do, just pour it down your throat? Or do you want the cups I have here?” Stiles lunged at Derek who laughed and jumped out of the way. He ran up the stairs and Stiles chased him, bumping into him just as Derek was pulling open the door. Stiles wrapped one arm around Derek’s back as he reached across his chest for the coffee. “Wait, wait, wait, you're squishing the sandwiches,” Derek laughed out.

Stiles loosened his grip on Derek and pulled back a little, “Well now wait, I wouldn’t want that either.” He and Derek just grinned at each other for a few seconds before Laura stepped onto the porch.

“If you’re done playing, I would like to eat.”

“Sorry,” Derek and Stiles intoned at the same time, before shooting each other grins again.

Stiles followed the siblings into the house and glanced over at Isaac. “You think he’s still sleeping because of the bite or just because this is normal for him?”

Laura shrugged as she took a bite of her sandwich. “It’s still like, seven in the morning. I think it’s probably his normal sleeping schedule.”

“But he could also be extra tired because of what his body went through,” Derek admitted. “I’m not sure. Laura and I weren’t allowed in when our mom bit the few humans that joined the pack when we were younger.”

“It was an adults-only thing,” Laura said.

Stiles nodded and poured a cup of coffee for himself. He bumped into Derek on purpose as he stepped away and Derek pushed back at him, making him almost spill his coffee.

“Boys, it’s too early for this,” Laura complained.

“Do I smell coffee?” Isaac’s voice drifted over. “And bacon?”

Stiles grinned and grabbed one of the sandwiches before walking over to Isaac. “How do you feel?”

Isaac reached for the sandwich, and Stiles handed it to him before dropping down next to him. “Weird,” Isaac responded before opening the sandwich. “I can like… smell everything? So much so that the smell of the coffee and food was almost confusing. It’s like… I can smell every single thing, like, the wax paper and the cardboard and everything.”

“How do you take your coffee, by the way?” Laura asked. “I’ll fix it for you.”

“Milk and sugar, please,” Isaac responded with a yawn.

Derek lifted up the bag of sandwiches and came over to sit across from Isaac and Stiles. Laura settled down on Isaac’s other side and handed him his coffee.

“The transition seems to have gone well,” Laura said with a smile.

“Yea?” Isaac asked. “I don’t feel… as different as I thought I would.”

“I think part of that is just you getting used to things,” Laura acknowledged. “You already said that your sense of smell is stronger. Now you just have to figure out how to tell what you’re smelling.”

“And also how to tune it out,” Derek added on. “Right now, you’re used to the smells of the house. You got used to them while you were sleeping. But sometimes, if there are too many new smells, it can be overwhelming.”

“How did you guys live in New York then?” Stiles asked.

“We have really good control,” Laura responded.

“But we also tried to avoid subways at rush hour, and things like that,” Derek added on. “Just because we’re in control of our senses doesn’t mean that they aren’t still strong.”

“But you mean at school, right?” Isaac asked after he took a sip of his coffee. “Like that’s when I could get overwhelmed?”

Laura nodded. “Most likely. At least for now. But that’s why we did this on a weekend, so you can practice a little before going back to school.”

“Plus I’ll always be there,” Stiles added, “just in case you do have a hard time.”

Isaac nodded and took another bite of his sandwich. “How come this isn’t weird, by the way?” At the raised eyebrows, Isaac gestured at the four of them basically all sitting and eating on his mattress. “I woke up just a couple minutes ago, and we’re all sitting together like this is normal… and it feels normal, but there’s a part of my brain that’s also telling me that it should be weird. I just met you last night,” he said, looking at Derek, “and Laura I barely knew you at all, and Stiles, we’ve known each other for years, but we were never close.” Isaac looked between the three of them a few more times, “But it doesn’t feel weird at all that we all slept in the same room and we’re all but cuddling now.”

“We’re pack,” Laura said softly. “You have a new set of instincts now; the old ones are still there, but there’s some added ones too. And they’re strong.”

“Wolves, yes, Stiles, real wolves, and werewolves both draw strength and comfort from their packs,” Derek said, rolling his eyes at Stiles. “Closeness and physical touch are important to us.”

“That’s part of why you’re huggers?” Isaac guessed.

“Yea that’s part of it,” Laura agreed. “There are also other factors, but we can get to those later.”

Isaac nodded and continued eating his sandwich. After a minute he looked over at Stiles. “You’re not a werewolf.”

Stiles grinned, “I am not.”

“But you feel…” Isaac blinked a few times as if looking for the right word. “You feel like them.”

“He feels like pack,” Derek confirmed, “because he is. His magic helps him bond with us in a way that’s different from how human pack members would feel.”

“Once you get used to things, you will be able to tell him apart though. His bond feels distinctly more magical than we do.” Laura grinned at Stiles as she spoke.

“Wait, I do?” Stiles said, sitting up straighter. “Why don’t you guys tell me these things? What do I feel like?”

Isaac and Derek laughed at Stiles’ sudden excitement. “You feel… sparkly,” Laura said with a grin, “while Derek and Isaac feel more earthy.”

“I’m sparkly?” Stiles said. “I don’t even know what that means but I love it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now the pack's got 4! 
> 
> Just like I want the Hales to have nice things... I want Isaac to have nice things too <3


	8. Control

“So you’ll come by after lacrosse practice tonight?” Scott asked as they walked out of English class on Monday.

“Yea. I kind of love that Deaton is closed every Monday. It’s just nice that we both have a free day together,” Stiles answered, careful to navigate around the large group of freshmen that were blocking half the hallway.

Stiles sensed Isaac the split second before his arm snaked around Stiles’ shoulders, and he was glad that he didn’t jump at the sudden presence pressed up against him. He looked up into Isaac’s eyes and saw that they were wider than normal. “How you doing?” He asked under his breath, wrapping an arm around Isaac’s waist in return.

“It’s a lot,” Isaac answered, pulling Stiles a little closer.

Scott was staring at the two of them openly. “Uh, hey Isaac.”

Isaac nodded at Scott but didn’t say anything. Stiles noticed that he was breathing deeply. “Isaac, Scott is like, an honorary member, so he knows about pretty much everything.”

“Oh yea?” Isaac said, looking back at Scott with more interest. “So we don’t have to talk in code or like lie or anything?”

“Nope. He’s safe,” Stiles confirmed.

“Awesome. It’s only third period and today has already been rough,” Isaac admitted, rubbing at the side of his head.

“You feel like you’re handling it, or do we need to leave?” Stiles asked, trying not to pay attention to the looks they were getting as they walked down the hallway arm in arm.

“You’d go with me?” Isaac asked, eyes wide, glancing down at Stiles.

“Of course, dude,” Stiles responded, “at least until we could find Laura or Derek to help you out. I wouldn’t leave you alone if you didn’t feel up to it.”

Isaac took another deep breath. “Thanks. Just being near you is helping a lot, actually.”

Stiles pursed his lips as he thought. “What if you take my flannel?”

“What?”

“My shirt,” Stiles said, reaching out and lifting his outer shirt a little. “It probably smells like me, right? Would it help you get through a couple classes?”

Isaac’s face slowly split into a grin, “I think it would. Is that weird?”

Stiles shrugged, “I’d be glad to see my boyfriend wearing my shirt.”

Scott choked out a laugh and Isaac smirked. “You know, when you put it that way it could be okay. What if we traded shirts? I don’t have a sweater or anything to give you.”

Stiles glanced and realized they were right near the bathroom, “Come on,” he said, steering Isaac towards the bathroom. “We can swap in there with… minimal weird looks.”

“Dudes you’re on your own. Stiles, I’ll see you at lunch, and Isaac, I’ll see you at lacrosse.” Scott waved and continued walking down the hall.

Once in the bathroom, Stiles quickly took his two shirts off and held them out to Isaac, who had also quickly taken his off. “No fucking fair, dude,” Stiles said. “Since when do you have a fucking six pack?”

Isaac smirked again, “Since this weekend. You jealous?” Stiles reached out and poked at Isaac’s suddenly toned stomach, and Isaac laughed and squirmed out of the way as he pulled Stiles’ shirts on. “Yea, this is better,” he said as he took a deep breath of Stiles’ collar.

Stiles felt a little silly in Isaac’s slim-cut v-neck shirt. “How ridiculous do I look?”

Isaac stepped in close to Stiles, pushing him up against the wall slightly. Stiles was about to question him when the door opened and Danny and Jackson walked in. Danny’s eyes widened at them, but he kept walking in. Jackson however, stopped in the doorway and gawked. Isaac dropped his hand down and caught Stiles’s hand, and then pulled him out of the bathroom, shouldering past Jackson with a sneer as they went.

Once they were out in the hall, Isaac leaned in and whispered in Stiles’ ear, “The shirt looks good on you,” before turning and walking away.

Stiles shivered slightly, and then hurried to his next class.

*

After lacrosse, Isaac held out Stiles’ shirts for him, and Stiles gave Isaac back his. Stiles was pretty sure Jackson was watching them, but he was determined not to acknowledge him.

“You want a ride home?” Stiles asked quietly.

Isaac stiffened for a minute, “I was going to walk to the library after school, you know, to work on my homework.”

Stiles nodded, “I can ask Scott if you can hang with us at his house?”

“You think he’ll mind?” Isaac asked. “I don’t want to be in the way.”

Stiles shook his head, “Where is he?”

Isaac tilted his head for a second, “I think he’s still out in the field.”

“Weird. Let’s go see what he’s doing,” Stiles said, and was glad that Isaac followed him out.

They found Scott chatting with Allison, the girl he’d been crushing on for the past couple weeks. “Hey Allison,” Stiles said with a wave as they walked up.

“Hey Stiles, how’s it going?” She asked with a wide grin.

“We’re good.” Stiles responded, “We changed after practice and just realized that Scotty didn’t make it into the locker room. Allison, do you know Isaac?” She shook her head, as did Isaac.

“Isaac, Allison is new here, and we’ve been studying together for the last few weeks,” Scott said. “Allison, Isaac is on the lacrosse team with us, and he’s a senior, and he’s um…” Scott looked between Isaac and Stiles. They had told him about their excuse of dating each other, but apparently didn’t quite feel comfortable continuing the lie.

“Friend,” Stiles said, at the same time Isaac said, “Boyfriend.” They both raised their eyebrows at each other and corrected, “Boyfriend,” Stiles said at the same time Isaac said, “Friend.”

Allison started laughing at the three of them, since Scott was looking at them both like they were crazy. “I got it. You’re in that ‘it’s complicated’ stage or whatever.”

Isaac slung his arm over Stiles’ shoulders again and pulled him in close, “Or whatever,” he agreed with a smirk. Stiles elbowed him in the ribs, but didn’t move to get out from under his arm.

Scott glanced between them, “Stiles, sorry I lost track of time. Are you ready to go?”

Stiles nodded. “You mind if Isaac hangs out with us too?”

“Yea, that’s fine,” Scott said with a wide grin. “Let me just go change real quick. Allison, can I call you later?”

“Yea, okay,” she said with a grin, tucking some hair behind her ear. “And do you have any plans for this Friday? Lydia invited me to go bowling with her and her friends, and I’d like someone there with me in case it gets weird.”

Scott’s grin could have brightened a room. “Yea of course! I love bowling! Do you want me to pick you up?”

“Great,” she said before turning on the spot. “I’ll talk to you later then.”

Stiles made an excited face at Scott as Allison walked away and Scott made a shushing gesture, before punching the air with excitement and then running towards the locker room.

“Aww, our little Scott is growing up,” Isaac crooned. “Is that going to be his first date?”

“Shut up, dude,” Stiles said, looking up at Isaac, with just a mere inch or two between them.

Something in Isaac’s eyes shifted as they looked at each other, and then all of a sudden Isaac pushed Stiles up against the bleachers, mirroring the move he’d done in the bathroom earlier, but this time, something was different. “You smell amazing,” Isaac nearly growled at Stiles as he dropped his head slightly and inhaled deeply behind Stiles’ ear. “Ever since you were wearing my shirt earlier. It’s something about our smells mixing, I think.”

Stiles found his hands tracing up Isaac’s back of their own volition. “Yea?” he breathed out.

Isaac pulled back slightly to look at Stiles again before turning suddenly, “Shit, Jackson is coming. How is he everywhere?”

Stiles leaned up quickly and caught Isaac’s lips with his, one of his hands coming around to cup the side of Isaac’s neck. Isaac deepened the kiss, his tongue dancing across Stiles’ within seconds. He tightened his arms around Stiles’ back, crushing their bodies together.

“Come on, Jackson,” Danny said from the other side of the bleachers. “Let’s go across the field this way. We don’t need to bother whoever they are.”

Stiles tightened his fingers in Isaac’s shirt and smiled against his lips. Danny was the best, even if he wasn’t sure who he was helping out.

After another few seconds, even Stiles could hear Danny and Jackson’s voices dying down, and Stiles started to pull back, but Isaac growled softly and reached one hand up to the back of Stiles’ neck while his other hand shifted down and gripped his hip while he deepened the kiss again. Stiles felt a thrill run through his body as Isaac stepped even closer and ground his hips into Stiles. Then he pulled back suddenly and stared down at Stiles, his arms loosening their grip. His pupils were super dilated and he said through clenched teeth, “Hey I found another trigger that makes control harder.”

“What? Me?” Stiles asked breathlessly, grinning even though Isaac was apparently struggling with his control. He had kissed girls before, but never like this, and he still wasn’t sure he even really liked Isaac like that. Whatever they ended up being to each other, Isaac was clearly a great kisser.

Isaac took a few more deep, shuddering breaths. “It’s so weird. You feel comfortable and safe, and being near you makes me feel more in control, but kissing you? I feel like I almost lost it.” Isaac hesitated a moment and Stiles just watched as a range of emotions flew across his face. “I… Stiles I don’t think we should do that again.”

“Okay,” Stiles said, getting more serious. “Why?”

“I wanted to…” Isaac shook his head as if trying to clear it. “There was a part of me that didn’t want to stop, and… and what if I can’t control that? I don’t want to hurt you… or anyone else.”

Stiles reached his hand back up to cup Isaac’s cheek. “We won’t do anything else unless you feel comfortable and confident that you won’t lose control then. But also, remember, I have my own protection, so even if you do lose control, I promise I won’t let you hurt me.”

Isaac let out a sound halfway between a sob and a laugh, and Stiles pulled him in close for a hug. They just held each other for a moment, before Isaac’s phone rang.

“Hey Laura,” he said softly. “No, I’m fine. I promise. I just… you know that list of things you told me to be careful of? I think making out should be on that list.” Stiles looked up at Isaac and they both grinned, but Isaac quickly said, “No, no, no, don’t worry. It was Stiles. Oh, uh, yea, sure,” Isaac looked up, “she wants to talk to you,” he said somewhat sheepishly.

Stiles grimaced slightly, “Hi Laura,” he said once he put the phone to his ear.

“Stiles,” she said slowly. “You okay?”

“One hundred percent,” Stiles replied. “And Derek said you can hear if I’m lying, right?”

“Most of the time, yea,” she answered. “What are you guys up to?”

“Remember how we said that it was just kind of easier to let people at school think we’re dating?” Laura hummed an affirmative. “Isaac was having some trouble earlier, so we traded shirts, and then after lacrosse practice we… kind of kissed.” Isaac made a face and Stiles gestured a “what do you want me to say” with his arms.

Stiles could practically hear Laura’s air quotes as she responded, ‘Kind of kissing’ usually doesn’t make someone almost lose control. I could feel him struggling halfway across town. Do you know that?”

“No, sorry,” Stiles replied with another grimace. “We didn’t mean to…”

Stiles heard something that sounded particularly like Laura smacking her face, “I know. It’s just… you’re both teenagers, I know that. And Isaac, I know you can hear me, but you’re dealing with hormones plus new instincts, so you need to be extra careful. You were okay during lacrosse because you paid attention to your heart rate, right?”

“Yea,” Isaac replied. “You said if it got too elevated it would be easier for me to lose control, so I was extra careful the whole time.”

“So anything that gets your heart going like that elevates your hormones, which are linked to the wolf. I’m not going to tell you not to make out—”

“No, we get it,” Isaac interrupted. “As much as I liked it, it was kind of scary too.”

“Okay. I have to get back to work,” Laura said. “Be good, you two.”

“Bye Laura,” the chorused. They both started laughing and when Scott ran over to them, they were just managing to wipe the tears away.

“Let’s go, Scotty-boy,” Stiles said, clapping him on the back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look I love these boys and want them to have all the nicest things... but they've been handling things in a surprisingly mature and reasonable way so far... so I had to throw in some fake-dating, hormones, and poor-decision making skills.  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> And also, please don't get mad if you're waiting for Sterek. It's coming. I promise. (but also Stiles is still in high school and I REFUSE... so I meant it when I said slow-burn).


	9. The Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Descriptions of a panic attack.

“So Isaac came and sat with me in art class,” Scott said a few days later as they walked onto the basketball court.

Stiles wasn’t sure what they were going to be doing in gym today, but they always started by walking a few laps around the court. “That’s cool,” Stiles commented as he looked around the gym.

“Dude, what are you looking for?” Scott asked, glancing around also.

Stiles groaned, “I don’t know, but I just started getting that feeling… but it feels close, like somethings about to happen here.”

“Here?” Scott suddenly whipped his head around. “Like what?”

“I don’t know, Scott. If I did, I wouldn’t be looking around like I just lost something,” Stiles snapped. “Sorry, I’m just… you know I hate feeling helpless.”

They both whipped around at the sound of someone screaming. They started running instantly towards the gym alcove, the one that had the rock climbing wall and the obstacle course equipment. Stiles felt a tightening like the bad thing was about to happen and he grimaced as he realized what the screamer was looking at. Erica’s long blond hair was visible at the top of the mountain climbing wall, but he couldn’t see her protective harness or rope.

“She didn’t go up there without a rope, did she?” Scott gasped out just as Erica suddenly let go of the wall and fell.

“Shit!” Stiles shouted as the girl on the ground screamed again. He was still maybe fifteen feet away, and he panicked and tried to put a ward underneath Erica. He had never created one so far away from himself before. He saw as Erica hit the ward he was trying to build as he continued to run; she slowed down for a second before breaking through the half-formed ward and smacking to the ground.

Stiles and Scott arrived a few seconds later and fell to the ground next to her. “She’s breathing,” Stiles said after a second.

Scott looked up at the girl who had screamed multiple times already, “Go get the teacher,” he said, “okay?”

“Right, yea,” she said and then turned and ran.

The rest of the class arrived a few seconds later, and Stiles shouted out, “Give her some space. I think she had another seizure.”

The class stood around them and watched. Erica had been having seizures as far as any of them knew, and while she didn’t have many at school, there had been at least one or two times that she had collapsed.

“Why was she doing it alone?” Someone whispered.

The teacher arrived a few seconds later, talking on her walk-e-talke the whole time, “One student down; send the medical team immediately. It’s Erica Reyes. Stilinski, McCall, what happened?”

“She was climbing the wall by herself,” Scott said, “and she fell.”

“I think she had a seizure,” Stiles added.

“Shit,” the gym teacher said, dropping to her knees next to Erica. “None of you heard that. McCall. Go get Finstock or one of the other gym teachers. Tell them that I need a coverage right now.”

Two nurses ran in. Stiles got up and backed away. He looked around at the class, who were all looking at him with wide eyes. He looked for Scott, but he hadn’t gotten back yet. Stiles stumbled into the hallway and leaned against the wall.

What was he thinking? If his ward had worked, Erica would have just floated in the air, or maybe slid down in a weird arc around the invisible ward. Everyone would have seen it and Stiles wouldn’t have been able to explain it in any honest way, without exposing himself. But if he hadn’t tried to put up the ward, maybe she would have hit the ground harder and hurt herself even more? What was the use of having magic if he didn’t know how to help people? Was he just supposed to stand there and watch as she fell and maybe died?

Stiles buried his face in his hands. Erica was the second person on his list. What if he had switched her and Isaac? Then maybe she’d be a werewolf already and she wouldn’t have fallen and gotten hurt.

Suddenly Isaac was there with his arms wrapping around Stiles’ shoulders and pulling him close.

“Hey. What’s wrong? I felt you freaking out,” Isaac said in his ear.

Stiles wrapped his arms around Isaac’s waist and tried to take a deep breath. “Erica… fell… and I tried…” Stiles couldn’t get enough air in his lungs, no matter how hard he tried. He grasped harder at Isaac’s shirt, twisting his fingers in it.

A pair of EMTs ran past them as Stiles was trying to breathe, and the one in the back paused to look at Stiles. He waved and pointed into the gym and they nodded and continued going towards the gym.

Stiles’ phone buzzed and he put it to his ear without even looking at it. “Yea?” He gasped out.

“Stiles,” Derek’s voice came through strong and clear and Stiles felt his heart give a hiccup. “Stiles I’m on my way.”

“Derek, I tried… I tried... I...”

“Shhh, I know,” Derek said, even though there was no way he actually knew what he was agreeing to. “Stiles, talk to me. Tell me something. Not about what just happened. Something else. What did Jackson do today?”

Stiles choked out a laugh, “God he’s the worst. He spilled a beaker in AP Chem and then tried to blame it on me.”

“What an asshole,” Derek agreed. “What else?”

“He said I spilled it because I was distracted by his good looks,” Stiles said, surprised that he was able to breathe normally again.

The EMTs came back out with Erica on their stretcher. The nurses and teacher followed, and Stiles trailed after them, Isaac walking along with his arm still around Stiles’ shoulders. Once they got outside, Derek stepped up next to them.

“Thanks Isaac,” Derek said with a slight smile. He kept a reasonable distance between them, but Stiles was glad to see him.

“How’d you get here so fast, by the way?” Stiles asks. “The house is almost fifteen minutes from here.”

Derek rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his feet for a second. “Laura and I have been taking turns hanging out at the Starbucks down the block,” Derek admitted, looking back up. “We wanted to be here in case you had control problems,” Derek said, looking at Isaac. “I wasn’t expecting you to have a panic attack,” he concluded, looking at Stiles finally. “You feeling better?”

“Man, that sucked,” Stiles said, nodding and rubbing at his chest. It still felt tight, even though he was definitely feeling better. “Erica fell from the climbing wall,” Stiles said. “I tried to slow her fall down, which was stupid because if it had worked everyone would have seen my magic. But it didn’t.”

“You watched her fall?” Derek asked with wide eyes.

Stiles nodded and Isaac squeezed at his shoulder again. “What the hell is the point of having magic if I can’t stop people from getting hurt?”

Derek shook his head. “We can talk to Deaton. I’m sure there are other spells he can help you with.”

“Is Laura working today?” Stiles asked suddenly, an idea coming to him. “Can Laura check on her in the hospital? I don’t… I don’t think she should be alone.”

“Is it a feeling?” Derek asked seriously.

Stiles shakes his head slowly. “It’s… not quite one of the feelings. I had one right before she fell. This is… different. It’s… good almost? But Laura should go see her soon, if she can’t go right now.”

Isaac glanced between Stiles and Derek, confusion written all over his face. “What?”

“Stiles, you’re dad is here. I’m leaving. I’ll talk to Laura.” He started walking away and Isaac tilted his head as if listening.

“You get premonitions?” Isaac asked, tilting his head back towards Stiles.

“That’s weird,” Stiles said with a jab at Isaac’s ribs. “The way you guys can just carry on conversations after somebody’s left.”

Isaac grinned down at Stiles. “You know I think I like how short you are.”

Stiles’ mouth fell open as Isaac smirked at him, “Dude I’m 5’10. I am not short. You’re just a giant!”

“Come on folks,” one of the nurses said loudly to the students gathered near the entrance. “Nothing to see here. Get back inside the building, please.” Stiles saw his dad talking to the other nurse and he waved with the arm that wasn’t still tucked around Isaac’s waist. His dad gave a small wave back, but was clearly busy.

“You gonna be ok the rest of the day?” Isaac asked as they started walking back inside.

“Yea, I should be fine,” Stiles replied, waving to Scott once they got back inside.

“Dude are you okay?” Scott asked, “I couldn’t find you after I got back to gym and they wouldn’t let me go outside to look for you.”

Stiles grasped Scott’s hand, “I’m fine. I had a panic attack, but Isaac and Derek helped me get through it.”

“Shit,” Scott said, squeezing Stiles’ hand.

Isaac gave Stiles’ shoulders one more squeeze before ducking to run his nose along Stiles’ hair. Then he turned to go down the first hallway to his class.

*

“Laura, I swear, he picked up on it before I did,” Derek said, pacing back and forth in their room.

Laura was seated on her bed, her legs stretched out ahead of her. “Are you sure? He didn’t just happen to be in the hallway?”

Derek shook his head. “No. I asked him afterwards. He was in class and he felt Stiles’ panic, so he left class. He wasn’t even on the same floor. He just… he’s that good at sensing emotions already.”

“But how?” Laura wondered. “We barely even taught him how to do any of that. We kind of just breezed past it while we were focusing on different methods of control.”

Derek shrugged.

“Stiles did say he thought that Isaac was abused… you know how they say that some kids who grow up with abuse learn to sense their abusers emotions as a defensive thing?” Laura mused. “Maybe Isaac’s like that?”

*

“Hey, um, kiddo?” Stiles looked up. His dad hadn’t called him kiddo in years. “I don’t mean to pry, but when I was at the school before, I saw you and that Lahey kid and you seemed… pretty close.”

Stiles’ jaw dropped open. He had waved at his dad on the way back into school, but he hadn’t thought about how his dad might have noticed that Isaac still had his arm over Stiles’ shoulders. Had he noticed Derek there before he left? He hoped not. That would be a lot harder to explain.

“Yea, uh… dad… Isaac and I kind of started dating a few weeks ago,” Stiles answered slowly. “I just… uh… didn’t get around to telling you yet, sorry.”

Stiles dad’s eyes widened while he was talking, and he started shaking his head. “No, Stiles, don’t apologize. It’s uh… I mean, thanks. Um… are you sure? No, what am I saying? You said his name is Isaac, right?”

Stiles grinned slightly, “Yea. He’s on the lacrosse team and…” Stiles shrugged. “I’m bisexual, by the way, not gay.”

“Oh, okay, okay.” Stiles’ dad nodded several times before looking back up at Stiles. “Hey, do you want to invite Isaac over for dinner on Saturday? I’m off all day so we can cook something together.”

Stiles grinned widely. “Dad, that sounds great! I’ll talk to Isaac. It might be… too soon? I don’t know. I mean, we just started dating. But I’ll let you know.”

Stiles’ dad opened his arms, “Come here, kiddo. I love you.”

“I love you too dad.” Stiles stepped into his dad’s arms gladly, and squeezed him back tightly. He hadn’t ever really planned to come out to his dad like this, based on a semi-fictional relationship, but he was glad it had gone as smoothly as it had… and he was also glad that he and Isaac had kind of set up the grounds for their fake relationship, so that he had an excuse to fall back on so he didn’t have to scramble when his dad asked him. “Oh, by the way, Isaac isn’t out to his dad, so please don’t say anything.”

“Nope, don’t worry. I won’t say a word to anyone.”

After Stiles went upstairs to work on his homework, he pulled up the new “pack” group text he had set up and sent out a message, “ _My dad saw Isaac and me hugging at school and asked - I told him we’re dating_.”

“ _Stiles are you sure? You didn’t have to say that._ ” Laura answers immediately.

“ _What do you mean? I had to say something._ ”

“ _But you didn’t have to come out to your dad like that. I mean, I don’t even know your sexuality_ ” Laura responded. “ _Are you gay or bi? Did you just lie to him?_ ”

“ _I didn’t. I mean, this wasn’t how I was planning on coming out… but I think I’m bi so this is a good enough time I guess…_ ”

 _“How did he take it?”_ Laura asked.

“ _Awkwardly supportive_.” Stiles responded. “ _Isaac I told him you weren’t out at home so he def won’t mention anything to anyone._ ”

“ _Thanks dude_.” Isaac answered. “ _I mean… thanks my darling xD_ ”

*

“You know Derek,” Stiles said as he wiped sweat off his forehead, “I totally get that you didn’t want to wait for a new painter, since we can do this ourselves, but I am not a fan of this manual labor in a house with no working air conditioning in May.” He turned around to glare at Derek, but instead watched as first Derek and then Isaac took their shirts off. “You know, I’ve had a change of heart suddenly and I think this sounds like a great idea.”

Laura walked in and started laughing when she saw the swipe of paint across Isaac’s cheek. “Isaac you really are perfect.” She kissed him affectionately on the clean cheek before turning to Stiles. “Aren’t you hot?”

Stiles grinned, “Of course, but I don’t have enough abs to qualify for this party,” he waved at Derek and Isaac.

“Dude shut up,” Isaac said. “You’re fine. You just don’t have the same definition, but I think most of this is like, supernatural.”

“Stiles, it’s hot,” Derek said, walking past him to get more paint. 

Stiles grimaced, but pulled his shirt over his head. The air felt surprisingly cool as it touched his bare, sweaty skin. 

“See?” Laura asked with a grin, “Do you feel better now?” Stiles grinned and shrugged before she continued. “I talked to Erica and her parents.”

“Oh yea?” Stiles asked, perking up. “How is she?”

“She’s alright for now, but they admitted that her seizures have been getting worse, and her meds don’t seem to be working well anymore, even though they've tried a whole bunch of different things and the doctors don't know why.” Laura stepped into the kitchen and put all her things down, taking her uniform shirt off to reveal the tank top underneath. “I gave them a little demonstration, and they agreed for her to take the bite.”

“Just like that?” Stiles asked.

Laura laughed, “Well, I was talking with them for a little over two hours, so no, it wasn’t ‘just like that.’”

“When are we going to do it?” Derek asked. “If her seizures are getting worse, do they want to wait until the next new moon?”

Laura shook her head, “We’re going to do it this Friday night.”

“This Friday?” Isaac asked, “Like, tomorrow night?”

Laura sighed and nodded. “This way, she’ll still have a whole week to adjust before the full moon.”

“But… but you said the first full moon is really hard,” Isaac protested. “Won’t… won’t it be harder for two of us?”

Derek reached out and squeezed Isaac’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll help you get through it.”

Isaac swallowed and nodded. Laura stepped in close and hugged Isaac, seemingly unbothered by how sweaty his chest was. “I promise you,” she said softly, “I’m not abandoning you. Derek and Stiles will be there too, and we’ll be fine.”


	10. Five and a Half

Laura went to visit Erica at home that night, and she brought Derek along. They wanted to talk about the details about how things would go the next day so that Erica and her parents would understand everything and have time to ask their questions. Laura pointed out that the more comfortable Erica was, the easier the transition would be, so it would make sense to have her family with them when it happened.

Erica's dad, Marco said, “You said there’s only four of you? We can easily accommodate you all here.”

“You can fit four extra people in your house? Overnight?”

Marco shrugged. “Well since Lillian, our oldest, is on the East Coast, and James has his own apartment over on Main Street. Their rooms are empty, and we have the guest room too.”

Laura grinned widely, “That would be perfect then. Thank you so much.”

*

Stiles hummed to himself quietly as he walked around Erica’s house, placing the ward near the property line. He knew the rest of the pack was inside waiting for him to finish and he wondered if Laura had bit Erica yet. He finished the mountain ash ward finally and reinforced it with his regular ward to keep any wayward humans out, even though there shouldn’t be any wandering over here at this time of night.

“Hey Stiles.”

Stiles flailed just as he was finishing the ward and stared at Boyd, a senior at his school who quit the lacrosse team so he could focus on cross-country track. “Boyd?” Stiles spluttered. He looked around wildly. Boyd was standing on the sidewalk, but Erica’s house was at the end of a cul-de-sac, and Marco had pointed out that since one was for sale and the family from the other house summered in Florida, that they were essentially as alone as they could be while still inside the “town” part of Beacon Hills.

Basically, Boyd shouldn’t be there.

“I wanna join.”

Stiles just stared at him blankly. He heard the house door open and wondered which of the weres would be coming out, although a part of him knew it would be Derek.

“Join what?” Stiles asked, playing for time.

Boyd crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m pretty sure you guys are werewolves. Or maybe one of those weird Twilight-y type vampires that can go out during the day. Whatever you are, it’s definitely supernatural, and I want in.”

Derek stepped up so his shoulder bumped into Stiles. “Derek, this is Vernon Boyd, who goes to school with us. He’s a senior.” Stiles spoke quietly.

Derek looked sharply at Stiles and whispered, “Number seven?”

Stiles nodded and looked back at Boyd, who was standing patiently just at the edge of his ward. Stiles watched as Boyd poked at the barrier with his toe gently, tracing the line that he couldn’t cross or even see. Stiles took a minute to be grateful that he put the regular human-ward on the outside of the mountain ash barrier so that Boyd couldn’t touch the ash.

Derek crossed his arms over his chest in a move that mirrored Boyd. “Sorry, but… werewolves? Isn’t that ridiculous?”

Boyd shrugged.

“Why do you think we’re werewolves?” Stiles asked.

Boyd shrugged again. “I watch people a lot. Something with you and Isaac definitely changed in the last few weeks. And weirdly, Scott knows about it, but isn’t different.” Boyd shook his head slowly. “And Derek, I don’t know who you are, but when Erica got hurt, you showed up at the school before the cops and went straight to Stiles and Isaac through the crowd without looking around or anything. Also, you came out here as soon as I started talking to Stiles, even though we were being quiet and the door was closed. And you didn’t look around, when you came out, to see where we were. You just knew.”

Derek ducked his head and Stiles did his best not to let out the smile that was pulling at his lips.

The door opened again and Laura rushed out.

“What is going on here?” She hissed quietly.

“Don’t worry. There’s no one else on the block,” Boyd said.

“Don’t worry?” Laura whisper-shouted, looking between the three of them. “Stiles, I thought you said you and Isaac were being careful!”

“We were!” Stiles answered.

“They were pretty good,” Boyd added. “They told Lydia and Jackson that they were dating, and they’re the biggest gossips in the school. I don’t think anyone else doubts them.”

“But you do,” Derek said, asking without any question marks in his inflection.

Boyd nodded. “I told you. I watch people.” He shrugged. “I moved here a few years ago and I don’t really have any friends.”

“Join a club then,” Laura said with a shrug.

“I have,” Boyd said. “And I don’t just want friends. I want a family. Even without knowing your full story, I can tell that whatever changed with you guys, you’re a family now.”

Stiles glanced down at Laura, who had walked through the space between Stiles and Derek to stand just in front of them. They had apparently instinctively closed ranks behind her because they were shoulder to shoulder again, with Laura just an inch or two in front of them.

“Look, kid,” Laura said, “I’m really sorry but I don’t know what you’re talking about. Our families have known each other for years. It’s getting late. You should probably go home.”

Laura turned and walked past Stiles and Derek again, and the two of them exchanged glances. Derek did something complicated with his eyebrows, and Stiles tried to respond.

Boyd watched them for a moment before he said, “Alright. Stiles, I’ll see you around.”

“Wait,” Stiles said, turning toward him. “Wait, wait, wait.” Derek reached out and held onto Stiles’ hand. Stiles squeezed him in return. “Boyd, just, wait a couple minutes, alright?”

Boyd shrugged, but Stiles could see the barest hints of a smile forming.

Stiles turned and dashed to the door with Derek a half-step behind him. “Whoa,” Stiles flailed as he stepped in the front door to see Laura standing just inside with her arms crossed.

“I am not biting a third person this month!”

“Okay, but what if you don’t bite him this month?” Stiles asked, holding his hands out. “Boyd was number seven on my list, remember? He’s already registered at BHCC. He’s a loner, but he’s super smart. He’s motivated and hard-working. The only reason he wasn’t higher on my list is because he doesn’t have any pressing issues.”

“Boyd is really great,” Erica said weakly from the doorway to the living room.

“Erica,” Laura said, rushing towards her. Stiles saw Laura immediately start siphoning off pain as Laura touched Erica’s arm. “You shouldn’t be up right now. I don’t want you to lose too much blood before the shift happens.”

Erica waved vaguely, “I always feel like crap. This isn’t too bad. But you should take Boyd, if that was really him. I couldn’t see so good because he was in the shadows.”

Laura smacked her face gently. “Do I just have the nosiest pack ever?”

“Yea....” Isaac replied, stepping up next to Erica. “I think you do. Also, Boyd has taken more shit at school than anyone else, and I’ve never seen him lose his temper… so that’s got to say something about how good his control would be if you bit him.”

“Oh my god,” Laura groaned. “I’m not ready for this.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Erica's mom, Cynthia, said from behind Erica and Isaac, “since we don’t really know how all of this pack stuff works.”

“No, it’s okay,” Derek said, “everyone gets a voice.” Derek looked down at Laura who was shaking her head, but continuing to draw pain away from Erica. “Ideally we want our decisions to be unanimous.”

“Also, I think one of Laura’s concerns is that she didn’t want to add too many new betas too soon.” Stiles explained to Erica’s parents.

“Okay,” Marco said nodding. “That makes sense, based on what you said about learning control. But then, isn’t Stiles’ suggestion a good one? What if you just don’t bite him yet? You said humans can be part of the pack, right?”

Laura sighed deeply.

Stiles looked at Derek, “And remember when we first met? You and Deaton said it would be better for Scott and me to have the full facts instead of running around shooting off ideas to strangers.”

Derek barked out a laugh, “That’s what you took away from that conversation?”

Stiles grinned cheekily, “I chose to interpret the threats and growls as worry for Laura.”

Laura laughed weakly. “Okay fine.”

“Boyd’s a good kid,” Marco added. “He lives around the block, and I see him helping out Mrs. Whitmeyer and Mr. Evans all the time.”

Cynthia nodded, “He puts out their trash and mows their lawns and things like that. I don’t think they pay him either.”

Erica shook her head, “Actually I think they each pay him like, $5 a month, and he just smiles and says thank you, even though that’s probably what they paid back in like, the 50s when they were young.”

Laura looked at Isaac, who just shrugged. “He’s good people, as far as I know. I’ve never really talked to him, beyond like, lacrosse stuff.”

Laura turned back to Stiles and sighed, “You’ll go get him?”

Stiles grinned and nodded before going back outside. He walked down to the curb where Boyd was sitting. Stiles stepped through the ward and sat down next to Boyd.

“You sending me away?” Boyd asked after a moment of companionable silence.

Stiles grinned widely. “No, man. I’m bringing you in.”

Boyd turned to study Stiles’ face. After a moment, Boyd’s face split into a grin wide enough to match Stiles. “Yea?”

*

Erica woke the next morning with a small scream. She jumped up and squealed. Laura and Cynthia rushed to her side.

“What’s wrong?” Laura asked, trying to sense pain or discomfort through their bond.

“Baby?” Cynthia. “What hurts?”

“Nothing!” Erica laughed. “And I’m not tired!”

Cynthia started smiling, “You’re not tired? At all?”

Laura looked between them both and started grinning as well.

“No!” Erica shouted, jumping up and down.

Derek came out of the room he had been sleeping in. “Everything’s good?”

Stiles stepped out of the next room down the hall. “You all sound very awake,” he grumbled and Derek laughed and pulled him in with one arm.

Isaac approached them and moved to wrap his arm over Stiles on the other side. “Hey, Stiles, do you keep your hair short so you don’t have bedhead like the rest of us?”

“I’ll have time to do my hair now!” Erica shouted, running back into her room. She went faster than she was expecting though, and bumped into her dresser, spilling everything on top. “Woops,” she giggled, before looking back at Laura. “I guess I’m fast now!”

“It’s too early to be up,” Stiles grumbled, resting his head on Derek’s shoulder.

“Couch downstairs?” Isaac suggested. “I’m glad Erica’s happy, but she’s a little too loud right now.”

“Come on,” Derek said before disengaging from Stiles and Isaac and going towards the stairs.

When Laura came down later, the three of them were draped over the couch with random limbs overlapping.

“Marco is making breakfast,” Derek said softly as he snagged Laura’s arm. “I like not being the adult for a while.”

Laura grinned down at him and patted his shoulder, “Yea, I like it too.”

*

Stiles looked around at his lunch table. Erica and Boyd were sitting nearly hip to hip while they ate. Scott was sitting next to Allison, and they were both chatting with Lydia, who had sat with them a few times that week. Each time Jackson and Danny joined them, even though Jackson usually complained loudly the whole time. He apparently didn’t hate Scott after they had gone bowling together, but he still thought he was beneath him somehow.

Isaac looped his arm over Stiles’ shoulders, a gesture that he’d been doing more and more. He leaned down slightly so he could whisper into Stiles’ ear. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

Stiles shivered slightly and Isaac smirked down at him. “Just… we really do look different,” Stiles said, gesturing at the group around them. “Two months ago we wouldn’t have been all eating together.”

Isaac nodded. “Yea, we’ve had some pretty monumental changes in our lives, and most of them have all revolved around you.”

Stiles scoffed and looked up to see that Danny was watching the two of them. They exchanged small grins and then both turned to look at Lydia when she leaned over the table and loudly addressed Erica.

“You have to tell me your secrets,” Lydia said. “This glow up is just astounding. Don’t get me wrong,” she said, flipping her hair, “you’ve always been beautiful, but now? You’re like a whole new person!”

Erica grinned in the way that Stiles was beginning to recognize as her fake, bitchy grin. “Yea, I changed my meds recently,” Erica explained. “The old ones were stopping the seizures, but they made me exhausted all the time, and gave me brain fog. But, you know, the lack of seizures was good. But then they stopped even doing that… so we tried something different.” Erica stretched, and she obviously took note of how many eyes were drawn to her bare midriff and smirked as she continued talking. “And Lydia, I totally get you now. When I have time in the morning to put on makeup and do my hair, it’s like a totally different world.”

Lydia gave a quick grin that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yes, a little bit of effort can do wonders. But it’s a good thing that your doctors figured out a new medicine.”

*

“Deaton can I ask you a question that’s coming completely from a place of curiosity and learning… but I’m afraid will sound offensive and judgmental?”

The vet looked up from the book he was writing in. “Well, with that preface, how could I say no?”

Stiles laughed softly and shook his head. Maybe someday he would get used to the way Deaton talked. “So we’re spending about equal time focusing on casting wards and things with mountain ash and casting wards using just my Spark. But… it seems that my own wards are stronger and more flexible than the mountain ash wards, since I can control whether they affect just supernatural beings or regular humans as well. Right?” Deaton nodded and gestured for Stiles to continue. “So… why are we spending so much time with mountain ash? Shouldn’t I just devote my attention to getting better using my Spark?”

Deaton carefully put a bookmark in his book and closed it. “Where does the power for your Spark come from?”

Stiles blinked. That wasn’t the response he was expecting. “Well, from me.”

“And what happens when you get tired or drained?”

“My Spark… becomes unreliable?”

Deaton nodded, reaching over to pick up a jar of mountain ash. “Yes, my ability to cast wards relies on the presence of mountain ash, but I can reuse it, collect it when it is scattered, and stretch it so that it covers a wider space than it logically could. I can also cast wards using this no matter how exhausted I am.”

“Alright, I get it. Relying on only my Spark could leave me stranded and defenseless at some point.”

Deaton nodded. “Particularly early on, while you’re still training your Spark. And also, why drain your Spark casting wards when you could use mountain ash to do it?”

“Thanks for helping me understand,” Stiles said, “instead of feeling like I was judging you.”

Deaton smiled faintly, “I would be a pretty bad teacher if I got instantly offended at a student’s question. Plus, and this is not meant to offend you, I usually expect at least a quarter of the things that come out of teenagers mouths to be at least mildly offensive.”

Stiles laughed loudly, “Only a quarter?”

“Well, I do try to insulate myself from the truly terrible ones.”

“Oh man, you should never meet the lacrosse captain, Jackson. He is literally the worst.”

“Noted.”

*

“Thanks for the invitation again Marco,” Laura says, “but I think it’ll be better to have Erica’s first full moon out in the Preserve. The house is basically finished now, even though we haven’t finished getting furniture and things and moving in, but no one will hear any noises from out there.”

“You think they’ll be loud?” Cynthia asked.

“I’m not sure,” Laura said as she had a sip of her coffee. “If one of them loses control, it could get loud. I’ve never been in charge of a newly bitten beta before, let alone two. Isaac has been doing a great job with his control, but there will be more distractions now, and he’ll have less attention than normal since I’ll be divided between him and Erica. And I know Erica has been doing great, but it's all still new for her.” Laura grimaced. “Again, you’re both more than welcome, but if you do decide to come I need you to stay near Stiles so he can guarantee your safety.”

They nodded. Laura had told them about how they would be at risk, from both Erica and Isaac. Even though Erica would be inclined to protect them in general, if she lost control she would be highly unpredictable, and out of control werewolves have been known to kill even their closest loved ones.

“You’re sure he’s up to it?” Marco asked. “He’s just a kid after all.”

Laura grinned. “He’s also the most powerful magic user I’ve ever met.”


	11. Full Moon

“What is all of this?” Erica asked as she looked around the Hale house. There were boxes stacked everywhere, starting on the front porch and going through the whole entry way, living room and kitchen.

“There are a couple things upstairs already,” Isaac said with a wry grin as he trotted down the stairs. “This is part of Laura’s plan.”

Erica exchanged a glance with her mom, who was standing just behind her. They both shrugged. Cynthia reached out to pull Isaac in for a hug and he gratefully returned it, even though she didn’t even come up to his shoulder. Erica looked a little awkward, but hugged Isaac tightly too.

Laura came in from the kitchen, wiping at the sweat that was starting to gather on her forehead. “Hey Erica, Cynthia.” She hugged each of them before stepping aside and gesturing at everything. “The full moon gives us extra energy. Normally Derek and I like to go for long runs, but I don’t want to take the two of you out too far, just in case you struggle with your control.”

“So we’re helping them move in today!” Isaac said with jazz fingers and a small laugh. “We’re spending our energy and being helpful.”

Erica grinned. “And we get to use our super strength?”

“Yes!” Isaac said, his wry smile turning genuine for the first time.

“Let’s go!” Erica said with a wide grin and the two of them bolted toward the stairs.

“Wait take some boxes up with you!” Laura shouted. They both paused, turned and grabbed whatever was nearest them, and then ran the rest of the way up the steps.

“Come on, look, I can pick this whole thing up with one hand,” Isaac said loudly, and footsteps ran down the hallway.

Laura turned back to Cynthia and shrugged with a grin. “How have things been at home?”

“Amazing,” Cynthia said with a relieved sigh. “I mean, she keeps bumping into things and knocking things over, but… this is a side of her we haven’t seen much in years. She’s energetic and lively again.”

“That’s wonderful,” Laura said with a wide smile. “And her control for the past week has seemed almost perfect.” She gestured toward the kitchen, “Do you want to join us in the kitchen? There’s a pot of coffee, and I have tea and other drinks if you’d like.”

Cynthia nodded and was surprised to see Stiles and Derek unpacking boxes in the kitchen. “I didn’t realize you were all working,” she said.

Stiles grinned widely as he carefully lifted a glass out of a box. “I mean, it’ll benefit us all to have things settled here again. Also, we currently can’t get to the couch to relax or the table to study until this is done… so we might as well all help.”

“And it’ll be nice to have normal plates and cups and pots and pans,” Derek said, “so we can cook and eat like normal humans again.”

“Can I help?” Cynthia asked, looking around.

“Sure,” Laura said. “We’ve got all the breakable things down here for the most part. I’m going to go upstairs because it sounds like Isaac and Erica are just throwing things around up there, and right now they only have like, bed frames and dressers, but they could still break them if they tried hard enough.”

After Cynthia, Stiles, and Derek had unpacked all of the kitchen supplies, Derek went out to pick up pizzas for everyone. Stiles gave Cynthia a full tour of the house, and they checked in on Isaac and Erica as they continued to haul more of the furniture upstairs. Laura mostly directed, but she helped with some of the larger things.

At some point, Stiles set up his portable speaker and started playing music.

“Stiles what even is this playlist?” Erica whined at one point.

“Shut up, you’ve been singing along to every other song,” Stiles retorted with a laugh.

Erica froze for a second before turning on Stiles. “Don’t tell me to shut up,” she growled, her eyes bleeding golden.

Stiles’ hand shot into his pocket as Laura basically materialized next to him. “Erica,” she said slowly, holding her hands out. “Breath deep for me, like we’ve been practicing.”

Erica squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled through her nose. After a few breaths, she opened her eyes and glanced around. Her eyes were still golden, but she sounded much more calm when she spoke, “I’m okay.” She made eye contact with her mom across the room. “I’m okay, I promise. That crept up on me a lot quicker than it usually does,” she said, finally looking back at Laura.

“It’s because of the full moon,” Laura explained. “Your temper is shorter because you’re closer to the wolf now than you normally are during the rest of the month.”

“How come your eyes are still gold?” Isaac asked, stepping closer.

Erica shrugged. “I don’t know. I feel in control again… mostly.”

“They might stay gold all night,” Laura admitted. “Sometimes that happens. Once you get better control, you’ll be able to make them go back to normal.”

“That’s part of why you said that they have to spend the first few full moons with you,” Cynthia guessed, stepping closer.

Laura nodded and turned to Stiles finally. He grinned and held up his hand to reveal the mountain ash inside it.

“What’s that?” Erica asked, peering to look at it closer as Cynthia stepped closer too. Isaac stepped back. He had already seen how the mountain ash worked, and explained with as few details as possible to Stiles, Laura, and Derek, about his claustrophobia.

“Mountain ash,” Stiles answered. “I can use it to make a magical barrier that only stops supernatural creatures, like you.”

“You were going to trap me?” Erica asked, her golden eyes widening.

Stiles shook his head. “Not unless it was necessary. I won’t let you hurt anybody.”

Erica studied Stiles for a moment before nodding. “Thanks.”

Derek got back then and held up the pizzas. “I got wings and salads too,” he said, and Stiles appreciated his effort to dispel the tension in the room.

They took a break to eat and then worked together to clear the living room. By the time all the boxes were gone, it was fully dark outside. As they were cleaning up, Erica dropped one of the empty boxes and it made a slapping sound as it hit the floor behind Isaac. He whirled with a growl, halfway shifted to the beta stage.

“Fuck Erica,” he shouted, distancing himself from her. “Don’t creep up behind me like that”

“It was just an accident,” she snapped back. “Don’t be so jumpy.”

Laura stepped between them. “It’s okay. Isaac, it was an accident. Just breathe. Erica, Isaac was just startled by the noise. You don’t have to snap at him. Both of you, breathe.”

They nodded and inhaled deeply. Stiles stepped up across from Laura and reached out with his magic. He felt along the bonds. He wanted to see if he could feel the difference between their normal status and when they were losing control. Laura could identify their control from anywhere, and Stiles wondered if he could do it too.

With his eyes closed, Isaac reached out an arm and pulled Stiles close. “It feels weird when you poke at the bond,” he murmured into Stiles’ hair. “That’s what you were just doing, right?”

Stiles nodded and Erica asked, “Poking the bond? What does that even mean?”

Stiles laughed and poked a little harder at it, which made her squeak. “That feels weird.”

“Sorry,” Stiles said, shifting slightly so he could rest his head more comfortably against Isaac’s shoulder. “I was just trying to see if I could feel your control like Laura can.” Laura raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged, moving Isaac’s arm too. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll be able to figure it out eventually, but I can’t feel any variation. They’re just… there.”

Laura shrugged but reached out and patted both Isaac and Erica on the shoulders. “You’re doing a great job, both of you. And Isaac, look! Your eyes have gone back to normal.”

“Hey maybe I should hug Stiles too. Maybe he’s like a good luck charm,” Erica reached forward and pulled Stiles into her arms. Stiles chuckled, but wrapped his arms around her back, looking at Derek over her shoulder. He couldn’t quite figure out if Derek was amused by the beta’s antics or annoyed by them.

Isaac laughed and waited a minute. “Your eyes aren’t changing,” he commented eventually.

“Well, I think it’s movie time,” Derek said eventually. “Erica’s eyes are fine the way they are.”

“I’ll go make popcorn!” Isaac said, running into the kitchen.

Laura laughed, slinging one arm over Stiles’ shoulders and one over Erica’s, “Come on, we can get the best seats.”

*

Stiles stared out the kitchen’s gorgeous big bay window at the space where Laura said she was planning to plant a garden. They had managed to move and set up just about everything in the house over the full-moon weekend. The furnishings were bare bone and there were no decorations in the house to speak of, but it was spacious and bright and Stiles loved it already.

Stiles looked back down at the book and papers spread in front of him. “Alright. Two more finals and then I’m officially done with sophomore year,” he said to himself as he leaned forward.

Derek nearly dropped his cup. “You’re a sophomore?”

Stiles shrugged and tried one of the Hale-eyebrows. They worked so well for them.

“Didn’t you say you’re 17?”

Stiles shrugged again. He wasn’t going to blush or be bothered by Derek’s questions. He had gotten over this years ago. “My birthday was right by the cut-off for kindergarten, so my mom decided she wanted to keep me home for another year. She said it would be better for me to be the oldest kid in the class than the youngest. But then I got held back in fourth grade… I basically stopped doing work after she died, so they made me repeat the year.” Derek’s eyebrows made a series of complex movements while Stiles spoke, and a part of him was amused. “I mean, I think it was ridiculous since I had been doing well the whole first half of the year and I obviously knew the material, but still. And now, obviously I’ve caught up, which is why I’m taking so many AP classes now. My goal is to get enough college credits that I can basically skip the first year of college and still graduate college the year I was supposed to.”

“You can’t graduate high school early?”

Stiles laughed, “No, apparently there’s some rule that you need to take four years of gym… and there’s no way around it. So even though I’ll have satisfied all of the other credits by the middle of junior year… I still need gym.”

Derek shook his head. “That’s kind of ridiculous.”

Stiles shrugged. He had done the math on all of this in 8th grade, and after lots of fighting and crying with both his dad and his guidance counselor, he had finally accepted his four-year high school and three-year college route.

“Have you thought about enrolling in summer classes at BHCC?” Derek asked thoughtfully.

“What? I can do that?”

Derek nodded. “I’m pretty sure you can. I was taking college classes at the same time that I was finishing my GED in New York. Usually a diploma or GED is required to actually enroll as a full-time student, but you could probably take a couple classes before you graduate. This way you’ll have even more college credits.”

“And I can maybe take some of the specific courses that aren’t covered by the AP exams!” Stiles exclaimed, pulling out his phone to start researching. Derek grinned and opened his laptop to help Stiles research.

Laura walked in half an hour later and was surprised to see Stiles and Derek pouring over their screens, heads leaning close together as they read off each other’s screens, the half-empty boxes that Derek had been unpacking completely forgotten.

“What’s going on?” Laura couldn’t help but smile as she put her bag down.

“I just enrolled in two summer classes at BHCC!” Stiles exclaimed.

“Two? Are you allowed to do that while you’re still in high school?”

“I am! Derek was telling me about how he took college classes while still getting his GED, and we looked it up and I can too! And this way I’m taking classes that the AP exams don’t cover but are still required classes for almost every bachelor’s degree, so I should be able to transfer them to whatever college I end up going to. I’ll still have plenty of options, and this will make me able to graduate college sooner!”

“Are you in that much of a hurry?” Laura asked with a grin as she leaned over them to look at their screens.

“Well, of course,” Stiles said with a shrug and a wry smile. “If I end up leaving to go to Stanford or something, I want to make sure I can come back to you guys as soon as possible.”

Derek stiffened, “Stiles I didn’t realize that’s why you wanted to graduate early.”

“Yea, of course dude. Plus, the more credits I get out of the way through AP classes and BHCC, the cheaper it’ll be if I get into a private school.”

“Stiles you don’t have to rush back to us,” Laura said slowly. “You’ll be pack no matter what. You can go away for four years, or eight, or however long it takes for you to get an education you’re satisfied with. You don’t… you don’t even need to move back here to live with us.”

Stiles squinted. “Thanks for saying that… but I want to be here. My dad is here, and he won’t be leaving anytime soon, even after he retires, he says this is where his life is and he doesn’t ever want to leave Beacon Hills. I don’t ever want to leave him. And now I’ve got you guys and the pack.”

*

“Have aliens taken over your body?”

Stiles nearly dropped his book in surprise. He hadn’t even realized his dad was home. “What?”

“Aliens. Am I speaking to one?” His dad leaned across and tapped lightly on his forehead.

“Dad, what the hell, stop,” Stiles laughed, pushing his dad’s hand away. “Of course I’m not possessed by aliens.”

“You sure? You’ve been acting weird lately.”

Stiles gulped. “Have I?”

“Yea.” His dad grabbed a water bottle and sat down at the kitchen table. “You’re doing homework on a Saturday afternoon, first of all. Not Sunday night at 11pm after I reminded you that something was due tomorrow. Also, aren’t your finals over? I’ve never seen you doing extra homework. That’s the first weird thing. Also you’ve been running? Since when did you go running?”

Stiles grinned and sat down across from his dad. “Well, this actually isn’t homework. It’s a book Derek gave me that’s really interesting. Did you know that books can actually be interesting and funny?” His dad laughed. “But also I wanted to talk to you about something that might not help with my whole ‘I’m not an alien’ argument.”

His dad raised his eyebrow and waited.

“I was thinking about taking a summer class at BHCC. I can pay for it with the money from Deaton because you can do a payment plan thing, so I only have to pay a little bit each month now through August, so it won’t be a problem. But if I do this and the AP exams, I can have 30 college credits before I even start college.”

“Stiles,” his dad started, before shifting and sighing. “You really want to do this?”

Stiles nodded, “I was talking it over with Scott and Derek, and it really seems like a good idea.”

“How much is a class?”

“$200,” Stiles replied. “But there are two summer sessions, so I was thinking of registering for one class during each session, so that’ll be $400 for the summer.”

“Well then I’ll pay for them.”

“No, dad,” Stiles exclaimed, sitting forward. “This is part of why I got the job, remember, to help out.”

“Yes, I remember, but I’m still your father, and it’s part of my job to provide for you. You should be saving your money, not spending it all already.”

“What if we each pay for one class?” Stiles asked, sitting back and crossing his arms. “Dr. Deaton did say I could work an extra day or two during the summer, so I’m going to be making like twice as much money as I’ve been making the past few weeks.” Just as his dad was about to open his mouth to say something, Stiles jumped in and added, “Remember how you’re always yelling at me for wasting away in the summer and just staying in bed playing video games all day? This summer I’ll actually be doing things! The classes are two or three days a week for a couple hours, and then I’ll be working for Dr. Deaton three or four days a week. It’ll be great!”

“How can I argue with you when you’re figured this all out already?” Stiles’ dad laughed, throwing up his hands. “It just feels like you’re rushing to grow up.”

Stiles shrugged and grinned, looking down at the book on the table. “It just feels like the right thing to do, you know? Derek said he’ll even help me if the summer classes are too fast-paced.”

“You and Derek have been spending a lot of time together lately, haven’t you?”

Stiles hoped his cheeks weren’t flushing. “He’s really cool, dad. When he explains things, they actually make sense. He makes history actually interesting, plus he knows about like, everything. And he’s been helping me with my Spanish too.”

“Laura said he wants to be a teacher.”

Stiles nodded. “Yea that’s what he got his degree in. He said something about having to take a few tests to get certified in California as opposed to New York.”

“And he goes running with you?”

Stiles shrugged. “Sometimes. He suggested that if Scott and I started running more, we might actually get to start in lacrosse, and he was right! Plus he and Laura said it was cool if we run through the preserve near their house. It was kind of cool watching the progress as they worked on it. I think they’re pretty much done now though.”

“I haven’t gone by there lately,” his dad admitted. “But Laura was talking about it the other day.” His dad laughed and stood up, “So you’re sure you’re not possessed by aliens?”

“No dad,” Stiles laughed, “I think I might just be… you know… growing up?”

*

“You must be Derek Hale,” the Sheriff said, holding out his hand. “I’m Stiles’ dad.”

Derek reached out and shook it, grinning widely. He hadn’t anticipated bumping into Stiles’ dad and Laura’s boss at the grocery store, but then again, that’s what happened in a town like this. “I am sir. It’s good to finally meet you. Laura and Stiles talk about you all the time.”

The Sheriff laughed, “You don’t have to call me ‘sir.’ John is fine.”

“Okay, John,” Derek said with a laugh. “I didn’t actually know your first name… Laura always calls you ‘Stilinski’ or ‘The Sheriff’ and Stiles calls you ‘dad’... so I figured ‘sir’ was the best way to go.”

John laughed. “Fair enough. How’s Stiles been doing lately?”

Derek shrugged. “He got 100 on his AP World final. He’s smart enough to do it without me, honestly, but I think having someone study with him helps him focus.”

“Yea, that’s my kid,” John agreed. “Too smart for his own good, but problems focusing. He also said that you might help him out in the college classes he’s going to take this summer?”

“Yea, if he needs the help,” Derek agreed.

John leaned on his cart, “So Derek, I have to ask you - why help him out so much? He said he’s not paying you.”

Derek made sure to keep his face blank, even though he wanted to wince. “Well, I mean at first it was just because I was so grateful about him helping out Laura. It was really scary… since I was in New York still, and I couldn’t be there for her. I just felt helpless.” John nodded so Derek kept talking, “But now,” Derek shrugged. He honestly didn’t know how to describe why they were doing what they were doing - they’re background story had just included what they were doing, not why they were doing it. “I don’t have many friends here. And I guess it’ll look good on my resume, that I was tutoring while trying to get all of my certifications in order. Sometimes we just study together- since I have a certification test coming up. Plus, he’s a good kid. He’s fun to hang out with.” Derek shrugged again. He hoped that Stiles’ dad would buy his explanation, even though he could see that it was lacking.

“He is a good kid,” John agreed. “How old are you, Derek?”

“Twenty one,” Derek answered.

“Hmm. That means you can buy alcohol.”

Derek didn’t like where the conversation was going, although he couldn’t say he was surprised. “I can.”

“You wouldn’t, say, buy any alcohol for my underage son, would you?”

“Never,” Derek said with a small chuckle. “Besides the fact that Laura would kick my ass into next year, I’m trying to get hired to teach high school. If I get in trouble for giving alcohol to underage kids, then I’ll never get a job. Also, Stiles hasn’t ever asked me, so I don’t think you have to worry about him.”

John nodded and then laughed. “Alright, sounds good to me. I just had to ask, you know?”

Derek grinned. “Sure thing. Stiles is lucky to have someone looking out for him.”

“Well, we look after each other, us Stilinski men.”

“Speaking of,” Derek said, gesturing down at the Sheriff’s shopping cart. “It looks like there’s one or two things in there that Stiles wouldn’t approve of. You should probably hide them so he doesn’t see them.”

The Sheriff clapped Derek on the shoulder and laughed, “Alright, I like you. These are going straight to the office with me and Stiles doesn’t ever have to know about my snacks.”


	12. Controlled Experiment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isaac and Stiles continue to make... very teenage decisions...

“Stiles, please please don’t be offended, but now that I graduated, we don’t have to like, pretend to be dating in front of people at school… so can we just be friends?” Isaac was wringing his hands slowly, pacing back and forth in Stiles’ bedroom. “Like, I get pack now. I get it. And you’re hot and all, but I think I might have a crush on Scott? And Allison? Shit I don’t know. Is he even into guys? What the fuck is wrong with me?”

“Bro. We’re good.” Stiles said, leaning back in his chair with a grin. “Scott hasn’t ever expressed anything besides heterosexuality, so that might be a dead end. And… he and Allison just went on like, their fourth date, so I think they’re like an actual thing now.”

“Obviously I’m not going to try to break them up or anything,” Isaac said with a scoff. “I think I just want to kiss both of them…”

Stiles laughed. “Alright. Good luck with that then.”

“You’re really not upset?” Isaac asked hesitantly.

Stiles reached out and squeezed Isaac’s hand, “It’s not like we were really truly dating at any point, right? I promise you’re not breaking my heart.” Isaac laughed and Stiles grinned at him, “You’re not upset either?”

Isaac gave one of his rare real smiles instead a smirk, “I think you were right, when you said that the pack is more important and that we should try to wait to figure things out.”

Stiles laughed, “We didn’t do the best job of waiting though.”

Isaac laughed. “I wouldn’t say no to a friends-with-benefits type thing, if neither of us start dating anyone else soon.”

“I don’t know about that,” Stiles said with a grin, “you might fall in love with me.”

Isaac laughed and punched Stiles in the shoulder a little harder than necessary. “Maybe I’ll ask Danny out,” Isaac mused.

“No fair, dude, I was thinking about asking Danny out!” Stiles said, leaning forward.

Isaac laughed. “Maybe you should. I’m still not totally sure that I’ll be able to control myself.” Isaac smirked again, “Although, remember what you said about you probably being the safest person to be with? Because you could actually stop me if I lost control?”

Stiles leaned forward on his knees and smirked, “Yea, I remember saying that.”

“You wanna put that to the test?” Isaac asked, stepping closer to Stiles.

“Didn’t we start out this conversation agreeing that we shouldn’t actually date?” Stiles rose from his chair and took a step closer to Isaac.

“I’m not suggesting we date,” Isaac said, reaching out and wrapping a hand around the back of Stiles’ neck, “just that we fuck around a little.”

“Oh my heart,” Stiles said breathlessly, “you’re making me swoon.” Even with the suddenly very real possibility of hooking up, Stiles still couldn’t prevent himself from being sarcastic.

Isaac chuckled as he leaned down and pressed his lips against Stiles’. Stiles wrapped his arms around Isaac’s slim waist, pulling him close. Isaac pulled back slightly after a minute, “So the challenge is to see how much we can do before I lose control and Laura calls, right?”

Stiles hummed agreement as he kissed down Isaac’s chiseled jawline and then his neck, biting gently where his neck met his shoulder.

“Fuck,” Isaac growled out softly, grabbing Stiles’ hips and pulling him close as his lips reclaimed Stiles’ and he started walking them towards the bed. Isaac reached down and lifted Stiles’ shirt, breaking the kiss only when they needed to get the cloth over Stiles’ arms and head. They were both breathing heavy and grinning when Stiles reached out and pulled Isaac’s shirt off too. “I know you were worried about your body when we were all painting,” Isaac said, grabbing Stiles’ hips and pulling their bodies together, “but you really don’t need to be.”

“Yea?” Stiles breathed out, tracing up Isaac’s back.

“Yea,” Isaac repeated, kissing Stiles again before pushing him back onto the bed. “I have an idea,” he said as he slowly climbed on top of Stiles.

“I like ideas,” Stiles said as he reached for Isaac’s neck, pulling him back in for another kiss.

“How about,” Isaac started, shifting so he could kiss and nip his way down Stiles’ neck, “I suck your cock, and then you suck mine?”

Stiles would have sworn his brain short circuited for a second at Isaac’s words. “Yea. Yea that sounds like a good plan,” he said quickly.

Isaac chuckled and nipped at Stiles’ nipple, drawing a quiet moan. “I figure,” Isaac said, “that if I’m going to lose control,” he swirled his tongue along Stiles’ ribs, “it’ll probably be when your mouth is on me, not the other way around.” Isaac had reached Stiles’ belly button and kissed and nipped a few times around it. “And since you’re being so selfless in helping me learn control, I just figured…”

Stiles barked out a laugh, “Yea. Yep. That’s me. Selfless.”

Isaac smirked up at him as he unbuttoned Stiles’ jeans and pulled them down slowly. As he was reaching for Stiles’ underwear, Stiles dropped a hand on top of his. “I haven’t done this before,” he said softly. “I’m all for your plan, but…”

Isaac’s smirk disappeared instantly. “Stiles…” he said softly before surging up and kissing him again. “We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. And… if it makes you feel any better I’ve only been with one guy before… so it’s not like I’m an expert.” Stiles grinned nervously. “What if… well, the plan is for me to go down on your first anyway, but this way it’ll be like… a teaching experience, yea?” Isaac smirked slightly as if unable to keep the expression off his face, no matter how seriously he was taking a situation, “and then you can do whatever you feel comfortable doing?”

Stiles nodded again, biting his lip. “Yea that sounds reasonable.”

Isaac grinned wider before dropping down to kiss Stiles again. “Tell me if there’s anything that makes you uncomfortable, okay? I’m not so good at reading chemosignals yet.” Stiles nodded several times as Isaac reached for his underwear again. “I promise, no fangs, okay?”

Stiles barked out a laugh this time and Isaac chuckled to himself as he positioned himself between Stiles’ legs, grasping his erection hesitantly and running a hand up it a few times before lowering himself down further so he could lick at the tip. Stiles felt like his lungs seized up as Isaac quickly grew more confident and moved further down Stiles’ erection.

“Fuck,” he gasped as Isaac finally sank down, pausing only when the tip hit the back of his throat. Isaac looked up and Stiles could see the amusement in his eyes and tell that he wanted to smirk, even though he couldn’t. “God damn,” Stiles muttered again, rubbing one hand over his head as Isaac continued moving up and down, slowing occasionally to swirl his tongue around the tip. “Fuck, Isaac, can I?”

Isaac glanced up through his eyelashes to see what Stiles was asking, and nodded slightly as he saw Stiles’ fingers hovering just above his head. Stiles swept his fingers through Isaac’s curls and just held on to the back of his head as it bobbed up and down. "God damn, Isaac, you are amazing," Stiles murmured as he went from staring at the ceiling to looking adoringly at Isaac, and then back up to the ceiling again. Isaac shifted a little, then grasped the base of Stiles' cock, humming as he moved and Stiles came suddenly with a shout. Isaac pulled off slightly, surprised, before swallowing down the rest of the come.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Stiles gasped out, “that took me by surprise.”

Isaac grinned and shook his head, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he sat up. “No problem. Did you take notes?”

Stiles laughed and waved his arm around vaguely, “I make no promises of quality, but I think I’ve got the overall idea.”

Isaac hummed as he laughed and leaned in to kiss Stiles. Stiles reached up to hold the back of Isaac’s neck for a second before pushing on his shoulders and flipping them over. Isaac laughed happily as he landed on his back. Stiles kissed down Isaac’s neck again, biting intermittently, until he got down to his pants. He glanced up at Isaac hesitantly as he reached for the button and Isaac smiled softly. Stiles' fingers were trembling slightly as he opened Isaac’s jeans and slid them down. He bit his bottom lip and just sat for a few seconds staring at the bulge in Isaac’s underwear.

“You ok?” Isaac whispered.

Stiles nodded a few times before glancing up, “I’m sorry. I want to. I’m just nervous.”

Isaac nodded before reaching out slowly and taking one of Stiles’ hands and guiding it over until it was cupping his erection. Stiles let out a sigh as he held it in his hand and squeezed slightly. Isaac dropped his head back onto the pillow. “Fuck… just your hand feels better than mine,” he laughed out softly as Stiles started to experimentally rub up and down his length.

Stiles grinned up at him and reached to pull his underwear off. Stiles reached for Isaac’s erection again before he could lose his nerve and was encouraged by the groan Isaac let out. He dropped his head slowly before licking gently at the head. After swirling his tongue around a few times, he tried to swallow Isaac’s cock down, but realized that his lips were still too dry to do it smoothly. He pulled off for a second and repositioned himself more comfortably before licking from the base of Isaac’s dick to the tip a few times, before trying again, this time succeeding. Stiles nearly choked when he felt the pressure at the back of his throat and pulled off, his eyes tearing. He wiped at them and went back, this time using one hand to brace the base while he moved up and down, trying to emulate Isaac’s bobbing and swirling technique.

“Shit,” Isaac said, rubbing a hand over Stiles’ head, “shit, Stiles. Is this okay? I’m sorry. I should have asked.” Stiles had to pull mostly off Isaac’s cock in order to nod a yes, but then focused back on what he was doing. Isaac gripped at his head again, even though his fingers couldn't find purchase in his short hair. Isaac was breathing deeply in what Stiles recognized as the technique Laura had taught him to keep control, and the part of Stiles that knew this was all probably a bad idea anyway but didn’t care, urged him to shift his hand and bring it up to fondle gently at Isaac’s balls.

“Fuck,” Isaac breathed out, squeezing Stiles’ head again. There were little pricks of pain where his fingers touched Stiles’ head and Stiles glanced up to see that Isaac was watching him with glowing gold eyes. He stilled for a second and Isaac scrunched his eyes closed. “Fuck please don’t stop. I can control it.”

Stiles hollowed out his cheeks as he pulled up this time and Isaac groaned, “Please don’t stop. I can do this. I can.” Stiles continued his new pattern, hollowing out his cheeks and swirling his tongue, and after a moment or two, he felt the pricks of pain on his skull disappear and glanced up to see that the gold in Isaac’s eyes was fading too. Stiles dropped his finger down to trace over Isaac’s hole, applying more pressure after a second or two, and Isaac reached a second hand up to trace along Stiles’ jaw. “Shit I’m going to come,” he gasped out. Stiles continued and after a second was surprised, even with Isaac’s warning, to feel the hot spurt of his come at the back of his throat. He swallowed, and then swallowed again, but had to pull off to breath, wiping at his face with the back of his hand like Isaac had.

Stiles reached down and took one of Isaac’s hands, studied the nails and saw that they were all regular. “You almost lost it so bad your claws came out?”

“Fuck, Stiles, how am I supposed to date anyone?” Isaac groaned, holding one hand over his face. He sat up slightly, cupping Stiles’ face. “That was amazing. You must have some weird wiring inside that head of yours though, because you saw that I was on the brink of losing it and that’s when you started to push me?” Stiles shrugged and grinned. “I’m sorry about the claws. I didn’t actually realize they had come out until you looked up at me.”

“Seeing you on edge was actually kind of hot,” Stiles said, crawling up to lay down beside Isaac. “Maybe that is weird.”

They both laughed until they heard Stiles’ phone buzz on the night table. Stiles leaned over Isaac to get it and Isaac nipped at his neck while he was stretched across him. “Oh it’s Laura,” he said. “Hey Laura.”

“Stiles.”

“Hi,” Stiles said, drawing out the vowel sound.

“Were you and Isaac doing any more… ‘just kissing’ by any chance?”

Isaac laughed next to him and Stiles grinned widely. “We were… actually doing a controlled experiment to test his control.”

“Mmhmm,” Laura replied. “And how did he do?”

“Surprisingly well,” Stiles said, grinning at Isaac, “but I think we might need to do more experiments.” Isaac snorted next to Stiles and rolled so that he was straddling him. Stiles dropped his free hand down to Isaac’s hip.

“God the two of you are just going to kill me, aren’t you? Look. Okay,” Laura sighed deeply. “I don’t know how my mother did this with multiple teenagers at the same time. Okay. Isaac, Stiles, honestly I’m glad you’re doing this together and not with some random person who would freak out if Isaac shifted. Stiles, please just be careful. I don’t want you getting hurt, and I don’t want Isaac to have to deal with the trauma of hurting someone he cares about.”

Isaac leaned down closer to the phone, bracing one hand against Stiles’ chest so he could speak into the phone. “I promise we’re being careful Laura.”

She sighed again. “Alright. Please just let me know if you have any problems. Also, and I know this is weird, but if you could shoot me a text the next time you’re trying one of your experiments, that would be great. This way I know that Isaac isn’t randomly losing control…”

“We can do that,” Stiles promised. “And sorry again.”

“It’s fine.” Laura said tiredly. “It’s what I get, having a bunch of teenagers around.”

*

“Hey Derek?” Derek just hummed a question in response so Stiles decided that meant he could continue, even though Derek hadn’t looked up from the packet he was studying for his next certification test. “Can I ask a pack question?”

Derek looked up finally and nodded, reaching to scratch the back of his head.

Stiles followed the line of his arm for a second before refocusing. “I wanted to ask about dating.” Derek’s eyebrows shot up so Stiles continued quickly. “Like, how it works. Because Erica and Boyd started dating, and it’s convenient that they can be totally honest with each other, but like, what if they break up? What does that do to the pack? And also what about, like, the rest of us? I know Isaac and I were pretending to date at school, but that’s not for real. What if one of us really wants to date someone else? Do we just have to… lie to everyone… forever?”

Stiles had been watching Derek’s face as it went through a myriad different expressions as Stiles spoke, and after he finished he waited for a minute to see how Derek would finally react.

“That’s a question for Laura,” Derek said before turning to look down at his packet again.

“What? But why? I figured a dating question would, like… fall into the ‘bro’ category, wouldn’t it?”

Derek scowled down at his packet. “I have a… history of bad relationships,” he finally said through gritted teeth.

Stiles stilled. He knew about how Derek had ended up mercy killing the first girl he had wanted to date, but… there were other relationships that were comparably bad?

“I’m not the person to ask relationship or dating advice,” Derek continued, still looking down at his packet.

“Message received,” Stiles said quietly, looking back down at his book. After a minute or so, he stretched his foot out and tapped Derek’s foot with his own. Derek was still for a minute before he shifted his foot to tap Stiles’ foot in return.

*

“Hey Laura,” Stiles waved with a smile as he opened the front door. “I, uh, upset Derek by accident.”

“Oh?” Laura asked, pausing as she was holding pictures up against the living room wall. “How?”

“I asked him how dating outside the pack usually worked.”

Laura pursed her lips and nodded. “Yea. You know about how badly his first relationship ended?” Stiles nodded. “His second was actually worse.”

“Worse?” Stiles asked, his mouth hanging open.

Laura shrugged before turning and walking into the kitchen. “Arguably. They both ended terribly. But Derek’s been dealing with it for a few years now and he’s doing a lot better, but he’s all but sworn off dating.” She reached into the fridge and pulled out cold water bottles, handing one to Stiles. “It is hard, though, dating in general. But aren't you and Isaac hooking up?”

Stiles looked down at his feet and grinned. “Yea, we are, but it’s not serious. It’s just fun.”

Laura nodded. “We don’t do casual particularly well,” she said. “We tend to get possessive. And we usually don’t share well either.”

Stiles looked up and shook his head, “No, it’s not like that. We’re just having fun. Isaac is really getting better at control.”

“Sure,” Laura drawled out slowly.

Stiles waved his hands at her briefly. “I promise. We’re not going to mess anything up.” Laura shrugged and smiled. “But eventually we’re both going to date other people. How does that work?”

Laura hopped up onto the counter. “It’s hard. In general. Dating in general is hard, I think, but for us? We have to hide and lie about certain pretty significant parts of our life. And you have to do it to a person who is trying to get to know you, which can make things awkward and stilted.” Laura sighed. “Obviously, we can’t go around just telling everyone that we date. We have to wait until it’s really serious, until we’re really sure about the person. And my mom had a rule that you can’t be ‘really sure’ until at least your mid-twenties.” When Stiles gaped at her she continued, “I mean, hold up, Stiles, do you really feel qualified to make some serious, long-term decisions, like, marriage-type decisions, that might affect the entire pack, decisions that might very well be based on where your dick wants to go?”

Stiles looked down again. “Yea, okay, I guess not.”

“If you and Isaac are really okay with what you’re doing, and you’re being careful that no one gets hurt, then it’s probably the best for now. I mean, it’s kind of awkward for me, but I can get past that.” Laura laughed, “This way, at least, Isaac isn’t going to accidentally maul or scare someone, which would make one of us, or Deaton, have to go do clean-up. You can protect yourself and you’re not scared by his struggles for control.”

Stiles nodded. “But we can date? Other people, I mean?”

“Of course.”

“And Derek doesn’t really date because of his… terrible dating history?” Laura nodded. “What about you?”

Laura laughed, “Who said I don’t date?”

“What? You do?”

Laura laughed again and hopped off the counter, pulling Stiles in with one arm and ruffling his short hair. “Well, between work and the house and watching out for my two new betas, one of whom is trying to kill me by testing his control at every available chance, and a Spark who keeps throwing Deaton for a loop, I haven’t had much time. Do you know that he calls me at least once a week to ask why you refuse to follow his set curriculum?”

Stiles was squirming and laughing, trying to get out from underneath Laura’s arm, but she had pinned him effectively and was definitely using some of her werewolf strength to hold him in place.

“Are we interrupting?” A voice interrupted Laura and Stiles’ laughter.

They looked up and saw Erica and Boyd standing in the open doorway.

“Hey guys!” Stiles said, waving. “Hey, uh, Laura? You wanna let me go?”

“Hmmmm,” she wondered for a moment before chuckling and letting Stiles’ neck go. He laughed and shoved at her shoulder before dancing out of the way when she reached for him again. Laura laughed at him and then went to hug Erica. The girl returned the hug tightly, and when Laura looked to Boyd questioningly, he stepped into her arms and returned the hug too. “What’s up guys? I figured you’d be out enjoying the weather or something.”

Boyd shrugged. “It’s hot.”

“And can we still get sunburns? I used to burn all the time. It sucked.”

“You can still burn,” Laura said with a laugh, “but it heals super quickly. It’s still a good idea to put on sunblock if you’re going to be outside all day, just to avoid the discomfort of waiting for it to heal, but it’s not a super big deal.”

“Yes!” Erica shouted, punching upwards. Then she turned and looked at Stiles, “You can still burn, can’t you? Your magic doesn’t protect you from that?”

“How do you make even the most innocent questions sound threatening?” Stiles inquired.

Erica shrugged and walked into the kitchen, helping herself to a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Laura can we help around the house?” Boyd asked. “It’s looking good.”

“Thanks,” Laura answered with a grin. “We are making progress. How about you guys help me go through these catalogues? I want to get some decorations and art and stuff.”

“Catalogues?” Stiles asked. “Why don’t you just go to a store?”

“Because I can’t take all of you to the store,” Laura said. “Unless we went over to Redding or something, and I don’t feel like driving that far. I figure you guys would want to decorate the bedrooms, and you can have a say in the rest of the furniture too. We only got like the bare minimums so far, but if you see anything particularly cool, circle it. I even have enough markers for you to color code for each of you.”

“Oh my god, this is amazing,” Stiles said. “I’m calling Isaac,” he glanced up at Laura, “okay?”

She nodded. “He’s with Derek now. Tell them both to come over if they’re done training.”


	13. Summertime and the Living is Easy

Stiles threw open the door as Derek and Isaac got out of Derek’s car. They had been training together a lot lately and Stiles was excited about having the whole pack together for the full moon tonight. He bounced on his toes as they walked up, his glance shooting back and forth between the two of them. He and Isaac had talked at great length about how unfair it was that Derek basically looked like an adonis, but in all honesty, Isaac was gorgeous too. He was more lithe and slim, but taller than Derek, and his brown curls were shining almost golden in the sunlight.

Isaac turned to ask Derek something, but Stiles couldn’t make out what he said. Derek blushed deeply enough for Stiles to see across the yard and replied quietly. Isaac barked out laughter and was still laughing when they got to the porch. He reached out and wrapped an arm around Stiles and drew him in close.

“God, I love being a werewolf,” Isaac said joyfully. Derek smiled in return, his cheeks still red, before ducking his head and going inside.

“What was so funny?” Stiles asked as Isaac rubbed his nose behind Stiles’ ear.

“You,” Isaac said softly.

“What?” Stiles said, twisting around slightly so he could look at Isaac, who looked somewhat disappointed.

“Remember how Derek has been teaching me about identifying chemosignals?” Stiles nodded. Isaac shifted again so he could nose along Stiles’ hairline. “Well I just figured out what arousal smells like.”

“No!” Stiles half-shouted, stepping out of Isaac’s arms and staring at him as Isaac smirked. “No. You cannot… You mean… when I saw… you could smell…” Stiles opened and closed his mouth a few times before smacking himself in the face and groaning. “This is so unfair.”

Isaac stepped closer, circling Stiles’ waist and dipping down so he could speak softly into Stiles’ ear, “So was it me or Derek?”

“I am not having this conversation right now,” Stiles said loudly, turning in Isaac’s arms and trying to walk toward the front door. Isaac laughed but clutched tightly at Stiles’ waist so that he was leaning forward but not actually going anywhere. “Oh, you,” Stiles laughed out, turning back around so he could dig at Isaac’s ribs, the one place where he was actually ticklish.

“Hey!” Isaac shouted out with a laugh as he grabbed Stiles’ by the wrists.

They both froze as they looked at Isaac’s hands and saw the black claws clutching Stiles.

Laura appeared an instant later in the doorway. “Isaac,” she said slowly. “It’s just the full moon coming. You’re still in control.”

Isaac squeezed his eyes shut and breathed deeply. Stiles watched as his claws turned back to fingernails.

“Good job, Isaac,” Laura said warmly. “Come here.” Isaac opened his eyes and smiled shyly before stepping into Laura’s open arms for a hug. She held him for a long time, rubbing slow circles in his upper back. After a minute, she pulled back and craned her neck to look up at him. “Isaac, I’m going to hug Stiles now. And then each member of the pack needs to hug him too.”

Isaac nodded slowly. “That’s probably a good idea,” Isaac agreed softly.

“Why?” Stiles asked, just as softly as Isaac and Laura were speaking. He wasn’t exactly sure why they were talking softly, but he didn’t want to disrupt anything.

“Because you smell like him,” Laura said as she let go of Isaac and stepped toward Stiles. “Remember what I said about us being possessive?” Stiles and Isaac both nodded as Laura wrapped her arms around Stiles. “Right now you smell mostly like Isaac,” she explained, “and you should smell like pack.”

“I smell like Isaac?” Stiles asked as Laura rubbed one hand up Stiles’ neck and over the back of his head. He hadn’t ever been aware of her scenting him before, but now he noticed some of the places that she normally would touch in passing. It had never felt weird before, but now, knowing that she was trying to make him smell like her, part of his brain said it was weird.

“Yea, and normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, except it’s going to be harder for you to maintain control tonight, Isaac, so having Stiles smell like this could make you feel more protective or possessive of him, but it could also make Erica more competitive or defensive.” Laura stepped back finally and held Stiles at arm’s length. “Come on,” she said as she took Stiles’ hand and went into the house.

Erica was waiting just inside with wide open arms. “I heard someone needs to be rubbed up on!”

Isaac smacked his face. “God this is so embarrassing.”

“Don’t worry,” Derek said with a smirk. “You get some hugs too.”

Boyd grinned at Stiles from behind Erica as she squeezed Stiles a little too hard. “I like you weirdos,” he said as he stepped up and hugged Stiles from the side so his arms circled around Erica too.

*

“What are we celebrating?” Isaac asked with a grin as he walked into the house. He and Boyd had been working with Derek’s old boss, Jerry, for the past few weeks and they were both excited about saving up money before they started classes.

“I’m finally certified to teach in California,” Derek answered with a wide grin.

“Oh congrats!” Isaac responded with an answering grin, stepping in to hug Derek.

When he turned to Stiles for a hug, Stiles held up his hands, “Dude are you covered in plaster? Why are you so dirty?”

Isaac scoffed with mock indignation and grabbed Stiles, pulling him in for a tight hug. “This is what it looks like when someone works all day long,” Isaac said, shaking Stiles from side to side.

“Put me down you barbarian,” Stiles laughed out, smacking pointlessly at Isaac.

He put Stiles down eventually, but then pulled him in for a quick kiss before turning to Laura, “Can we shower upstairs?” Laura nodded and Isaac and Boyd both ran upstairs.

Stiles had been standing still since Isaac planted a kiss on his lips. That was their first time kissing in front of anyone, and he hadn’t really talked about their not-relationship with the rest of the pack. Laura knew, obviously, but he wasn’t sure if anyone else did.

Erica stepped up next to him, “Well, that was interesting,” she purred.

“Erica, don’t make fun of them,” Laura chided.

Stiles watched as Derek made a series of eyebrow expressions at Laura before turning to go back into the kitchen. Stiles looked between Laura and the kitchen, and tried to interpret her expression. Sometimes he felt like he had mastered interpreting the Hale eyebrows… and sometimes he came up completely blank.

“Derek, wait, I’ll help you get dinner ready,” Stiles said, going to follow Derek.

Derek glanced up as Stiles approached him. “You can put the salad together,” he said softly.

Stiles nodded and took the ingredients out of the fridge.

“Come on Erica,” Laura said loudly from the living room. “We can let the boys cook. We can go do some training in the woods.”

Stiles waited until the front door closed, and then gave them a couple extra minutes to get further into the trees. He turned to Derek and said softly, “We’re being careful.” Derek just studied him for a minute before turning back to the food. “We talked with Laura,” Stiles continued. “We’re not really dating, but… we figured this was safer than Isaac dating outside the pack, at least until he gets better control.”

Derek shrugged. “Honestly it probably is safer this way,” he said after a couple minutes.

“I promise it won’t do anything to hurt the pack,” Stiles added.

Derek pursed his lips. “That’s good. But I also worry about the two of you. Your feelings matter too. Doing something casual can be really complicated.”

“I know. Laura said.” Stiles finished up the salad and stared down at it for a moment before Derek reached out and turned him so they faced each other. Stiles looked up into Derek’s green eyes and felt a little like Derek was staring into his soul.

“Just be careful,” Derek said after staring at him for a minute. “You guys can make decisions for yourself, and you both deserve to be happy.”

“Thanks,” Stiles said with a small smile.

*

Stiles groaned as Isaac tugged at the hair on the back of his head as he pushed him down onto the couch. “I like that you’re growing it out. I can just grab it now,” he growled into Stiles’ ear.

“Fuck,” Stiles gasped out as he rutted up against Isaac. Isaac laughed at him softly and then captured his lips in a vigorous kiss. Stiles completely forgot about the tv that was playing in the background as his hands roamed across Isaac’s body.

“Well, hello boys,” Stiles’ father said loudly from the front door. He dropped his keys on the side table and closed the door with a thump.

Stiles and Isaac both lept off the couch and stepped away from each other. “Hey, dad, hey, um, this is Isaac.” He glanced at Isaac under his lashes and saw that he was staring studiously at the floor. He nudged at Isaac with his elbow.

“Um, hi, Mr. Stilinski,” Isaac managed, glancing up at Stiles’ dad before looking back down at his shoes.

Stiles dad chuckled, “Well, Isaac, you’re staying for dinner right? I ordered Chinese while I was at the station, so it should be here within the next few minutes.”

“I don’t want to intrude--” Isaac started.

“Nonsense,” Stiles’ dad said, “I’ve been trying to get Stiles to bring you to dinner for the past couple weeks. Plus, you can ask Stiles. I always order way too much food.”

“He does,” Stiles agreed.

“Well, um… if you don’t mind…” Isaac trailed off.

“Not a problem,” Stiles’ dad waved. “I’m going to go upstairs and change. You boys can set the table, alright?”

“Sure dad,” Stiles replied, shooting a small smile up at his dad.

After his dad went upstairs, Isaac turned to him and whispered, “Dude what am I going to do?”

“Have dinner, of course!” Stiles whispered. “How did you not hear him coming?”

“I’m sorry!” Isaac responded, flailing his arms. “I was a little distracted!”

Stiles blushed, “Well… then we’ll just have to work on your situation awareness while we’re doing stuff!”

“Maybe we will!” Isaac shot back.

They stared at each other for a few more seconds before Stiles remembered they were supposed to be setting the table. “Come on,” he said, going into the kitchen to grab for paper plates and plastic utensils.

The doorbell rang as his dad was coming down the stairs, so he rushed the last few steps and answered. He carried the large bag of food into the dining room and grinned when he saw everything all set up.

“Ah and you grabbed a beer for me, how generous,” Stiles’ dad said as he started pulling packages of food out. “Isaac, we got shrimp lo mein, chicken and broccoli, General Tso’s chicken, Kung Pao beef, that one’s a little spicy, scallion pancakes, wonton soup, and a half dozen egg rolls.”

“Wow,” Isaac said, looking at all the food spread out. “This is what you guys just normally order?”

“We have trouble making up our minds, so we usually just order everything we like,” Stiles said with a shrug. “But this will also be lunch and dinner for tomorrow, so it’s not really going to go to waste.”

“Plus, after coming home to find Scott studying with Stiles a dozen times, I just started ordering extra to be on the safe side,” Stiles’ dad said.

“Mr. Stilinski, can I give you some money?”

“Please, call me John. And no, you definitely aren’t paying for this. I’m just glad I’m getting to meet you. Here, you want some brown rice? I’m sorry there’s no white, but Stiles won’t let me eat it anymore, so I won’t order it for him either.”

Stiles stuck out his tongue at his dad as he shoveled lo mein onto his plate.

Even though dinner was only the three of them, it was a loud and boisterous affair. Isaac had been quiet at first, but after a while, he opened up and started being more himself, and by the time they were opening fortune cookies, everyone was laughing loudly and happily.

“Isaac, are you staying for a bit? I noticed you weren’t helping Stiles with summer classwork, but you boys are more than welcome to watch the game with me tonight.”

“What game?” Isaac asked, blushing.

“The Mets game!” Stiles answered with enthusiasm. “It’s the only team we watch in this house.”

“You guys… are Mets fans?” Isaac asked with confusion. “Aren’t they a New York team? Like… the subpar New York team?”

John pointed at Isaac, “That is blasphemy and will not be allowed in this house.”

Isaac held up his hands in surrender as he laughed, “Sorry!”

Stiles laughed and patted Isaac on the shoulder as he got up. “Here, help me clear this all up while my dad gets the TV set up.”

Isaac gathered a bunch of things and followed Stiles into the kitchen. “Thanks for staying, dude. My dad keeps asking about you.”

Isaac shrugged and smiled down at the food as he stacked it into the fridge. “It’s kind of weird. I feel silly but also… special?”

Stiles laughed and snaked an arm around Isaac’s waist, pulling him close so he could place a quick kiss on his lips. “That’s part of the Stilinski charm. Silly and special.”

Isaac wrapped his arms around Stiles in return, rubbing his nose along Stiles’ hairline. “Let’s go watch some baseball.”

*

Laura walked in the front door a couple weeks later with a grin already on her face. “Guess who I was just talking to!”

“Who?” Stiles asked, stepping out of the kitchen where he had been working on an essay for his second summer class and Derek was making a salad.

“Cynthia and Marco,” Derek answered from behind Stiles.

Stiles stuck his tongue out at Derek. “You take all the fun out of things,” he complained.

“And James,” Laura added, putting the pizza on the island counter. Derek nodded and brought the large bowl of salad over while Stiles grabbed plates and utensils for them. “Cynthia asked for the bite.”

Derek’s eyebrows shot up and Stiles’ mouth dropped open. “Really?”

Laura nodded. “Apparently her arthritis is already bothering her, and she’s lost, like, three people in her family to breast cancer. She said she wanted to make Erica the priority, since her epilepsy was a bigger issue than her arthritis, but since it seems to be gone now, she was hoping the bite could help her live a longer, pain-free life.”

“What about Marco and James?” Derek asked, taking a bite of pizza.

Laura chuckled, “Marco very politely declined it. He said he wasn’t opposed to it so much as he didn’t feel like the risks were worth it, since he doesn’t have any other health issues like Erica and Cynthia do.”

“But James wants it,” Stiles guessed.

Laura nodded. “He said he can wait and that his mom deserves it first, but he does want it.”

“Holy shit,” Stiles said.

“Yea,” Derek agreed, glancing between Stiles and Laura. “That’s five betas, or beta applicants, in one year? Laura, we’ll be legitimate.”

Laura nodded thoughtfully as she served herself some salad. “Is this from the backyard garden?” she asked. Stiles nodded and she grinned. “That’s awesome. Anyway, I think I’ll bite Cynthia at the next new moon, and then James later… maybe September or October? I still don’t want too many new betas too soon, even though Isaac and Erica are doing great.”

“And Boyd?” Derek asked.

“Winter?” Laura guessed. “Maybe spring. He said he was okay with waiting, so let’s see how patient he is.”

*

“You’ve done an impressive job of mastering the basics,” Deaton said after Stiles demonstrated everything he had learned so far.

“These have just been the basics?” Stiles asked, mouth dropping open. He had been studying and practicing every single day for almost four months now - how could all of that just be the basics?

Deaton smirked, “Did you think you were going to master everything in just a few months?”

Stiles shrugged. “Kind of…”

Deaton chuckled and pointed at a stack of books on his desk. “Those are for you. They cover some of the more advanced concepts. I’ll be able to guide you through a lot of it, infusing magic into objects, like your bat, using different magical properties and ingredients, things like that. We’re also going to study different supernatural creatures, their histories, and how to identify them. Then there are two books there specifically about Sparks. My knowledge of the higher level Spark abilities is entirely theoretical, so I’ve been reaching out to my contacts to find a Spark who would be willing to give you some guidance. I found one woman in Texas. She is talking to her pack to figure out how she can video chat with you.”

Stiles stared for a few moments. “Deaton, that’s amazing.”

“Thank you,” Deaton replied.


	14. Autumn Growth

Isaac was waiting on Stiles’ porch when he came back from Deaton’s at the end of the first week back to school. “Hey dude,” Stiles greeted as he walked up to the door. He reached out for Isaac as he put the key in the door and pushed it open. 

Isaac stepped in and hugged him, but then pulled back somewhat hesitantly. “I...uh… I met someone.” 

Stiles grinned. “At school? Already? Isaac that’s awesome!”

“Yea?” Isaac asked shyly, looking back up at Stiles. “She invited me to a party tonight at her dorm.”

“Dude go for it!” Stiles says enthusiastically. “I think I might ask Danny out.”

“You really don’t mind?”

Stiles laughed and pulled Isaac in for a hug, “Dude, we agreed we weren’t dating the whole time. I know you got a little possessive sometimes, but we’re still not really dating. I see the face you make whenever you see Allison or Scott, and it’s kind of weird, but my heart’s not committed or anything. You’re great, but you’re pack first.”

Isaac nodded. “Cool. You too, I mean.”

“So tell me about this girl,” Stiles said with a grin as he walked into the house.

*

“I had a lot of fun tonight,” Danny said as they walked down the block towards his car.

“Me too,” Stiles said. He reached out and caught Danny’s hand, tangling their fingers softly. 

Danny tugged lightly on his hand and turned towards him, stopping in his tracks. Stiles raised his eyebrows slightly, half-surprised and half-expecting Danny to lean in and kiss him. 

“Hey, so um, I wanted to ask about Isaac…” Danny said, rubbing at the back of his head with his free hand.

“What about him?”

“You guys were dating. And you still hang out? You’ve mentioned him like, two or three times tonight. Isn’t that weird?”

“What? No. We had chemistry, sure, but we both agreed that we weren’t really together… you know… romantically. We’re just friends.”

“Oh, so you were just fuck buddies,” Danny observed with a laugh.

Stiles laughed, “Yea, I guess, even though we didn’t do any actual… you know.”

Danny grinned shyly. “And what’s Isaac up to now?”

“Oh, he’s got a girlfriend,” Stiles said with a wry grin. “He’s got no time for me anymore.”

Danny stiffened and untangled his fingers, pulling his hand back. “Is that why you asked me out?”

“What?” Stiles said, holding his hands out in front of him. “No, dude! I wanted to ask you out in the spring…”

“But you didn’t.”

Stiles shrugged. “I was planning on doing it… and then Isaac and I were talking… and he offered to blow me on the spot.” Stiles shrugged. “I’m weak.”

Danny laughed, “Well I’m not quite as easy as Isaac sounds.”

“Few people are,” Stiles laughed, turning with Danny as he started walking again. 

“Well, I mean, it sounds like you are.”

Stiles laughed loudly, grasping at his stomach as he tried to catch his breath. Danny grinned at him, chuckling at his reaction. “Yea, okay, yea I guess I walked into that one,” Stiles panted out eventually. 

“But you’re okay… with going slower with me?” Danny asked quietly, after a minute. 

“Dude, yes, of course,” Stiles said with a grin, reaching for Danny’s hand again. 

Danny laced his fingers through Stiles’ and they kept walking, matching grins on their faces.

*

John walked into his house that Sunday afternoon, surprised at how disappointed he was feeling. When Stiles told him that he and Isaac had broken up, he was concerned about how Stiles would react. He remembered his first high school breakup, and it hadn’t been pretty. 

Stiles had explained that he and Isaac were good though, and that they were still friends. He had shrugged and mumbled something about “kids these days.”

That’s why he was surprised to find Isaac and Stiles cooking together. “You’re back together?” Stiles and Isaac both grinned, but shook their heads. “You’re still broken up?”

Stiles shrugged, “Yea, but we’re still friends though.”

“Hmm,” John said, squinting between the two of them. 

“Plus, he’s a better chef than I am,” Stiles pointed out. Isaac blushed and looked down at the food he was stirring.

John couldn’t argue with that, and he knew that Isaac’s home life was shit, so he didn’t fight it. He was just glad to see Stiles happy.

*

“So we’ve been on three dates now, and I promised him that I was okay with taking things slow, but we haven’t done more than like, a chaste kiss good night,” Stiles complained as he threw himself down onto the couch. He glanced sideways at Isaac and Derek who were both ignoring him and watching tv.

“Dudes. I need, like, some consolation or something. I can’t go to Scott right now because he’s too depressed from Allison breaking up with him.”

“No,” Isaac corrected without taking his eyes off the tv, “they got back together today.”

“What?” Stiles said, flailing. “How do I not know this?”

Isaac shrugged.

“But that also means you’re listening,” Stile said. “Help me.”

Isaac turned a smirk on Stiles. “Just admit you miss me.”

Stiles threw a pillow at him. “Plus, Danny thinks that we’re all codependent or something. Last night while we were hanging out, the group text was blowing up, like, the whole time. Plus, he thinks it’s weird that I hang out with so many college kids.”

“Do you like him?” Derek asked softly, still not taking his eyes off the tv.

“Well, I mean, yea,” Stiles answered, shifting so he could stare at Derek. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have asked him out.”

“Why?”

Stiles propped himself up on his elbows so he was slightly upright. “Well, he’s super nice. Like, everybody likes Danny. Plus he’s funny and cute.” Stiles shrugged. “Also he seems to be into me. That’s a selling point too.”

“If you think he’s worth it, then be patient,” Derek said, turning back to the tv and crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Yea, that’s much better advice than I was going to give,” Isaac says with a smirk. “You should definitely take Derek’s advice.”

*

"How do you feel?" Laura asked, walking to the kitchen table with two cups of coffee. She sat down across from James, who was surrounded by his mom on one side and Erica on the other, pushing the coffee toward him.

"I feel amazing, honestly," James said. He glanced between his mom and Erica, "Really, guys, I get it now. This feels amazing."

Marco came to the table with a large plate of pancakes and another of bacon. "I'm glad it went so smoothly, but if you keep talking like this you're going to make me jealous. I'm already the odd man out." He laughed as he went back for the syrups. 

Derek followed him carrying sausages and scrambled eggs. "If you ever change your mind, Marco--"

Marco waved him off. "I'm joking. I'm perfectly fine the way I am. I'm just glad that Erica and Cynthia are healthier now, and that everything with James went smoothly. Now I don't have to worry about things as much."

"Well the next full moon is going to be fun," Erica said with a grin. "There are six of us now."

"Plus all the rest of us regular humans," Marco added with a grin as he sat down. 

*

“Hello? Hola?”

Stiles tried not to grin as the camera moved from the ceiling quickly to the floor before coming back up again to point at a woman’s shoulder. 

“Abuelita cálmese, por favor, please, calm down, just be patient,” a male voice came through the speakers.

The camera came into focus on an old woman’s face and Stiles gave a little wave, “Hi.”

“Ah, there’s my new student!” The woman said, clapping her hands together. “Gracias mi nieto.”

Stiles grinned, “Hi Senora Araceli.”

She waved her hands and the many bangles on each wrist clattered together. “No, no, no. You must call me Abuelita Araceli, like all of my grandkids. You’re the same age as them, I think.” Stiles nodded. “And what is your name, Chispacito?”

“I’m Stiles. What’s a Chispacito?”

“It means ‘Little Spark.’ And what kind of name is Stiles?” She leaned forward, bringing her wrinkled face closer to the camera. 

“Chispacito. I like that,” Stiles said with a wide grin. “And Stiles is just my nickname. My real first name is basically unpronounceable by anyone who isn’t Polish.”

“Oh? Try me.”

“Mieczysław.”

The old woman threw her head back and laughed. “Oh that’s a great one! Say it again so I can practice it.”

Stiles laughed too, and repeated his name several times until Araceli could say it reasonably well. He had never heard someone try to pronounce his Polish name with a Spanish accent before, but it sounded pretty good.

“So, now that we’ve got that figured out,” Abuelita Araceli said, “This is my nieto, my grandson, Miguel.” Miguel slid onto the screen and waved. “He’s the only one of my kids to have a Spark as well, and I’ve been training him since he was a boy. Now, tell me what Alan has been doing with you.”

Stiles talked with Abuelita Araceli for over two hours before they agreed to meet every Saturday morning on video chat. “Miguel will always be here with me too,” Araceli had explained, “because I don’t know a single thing about these computers.”

*

“So I don’t get it,” Jackson said, drawing everyone’s attention to him. 

“Don’t get what?” Lydia asked.

“Why we’re still sitting here,” he retorted. 

“Because Allison is my friend,” Lydia said pointedly after an awkward minute of silence. “And this is where Allison sits.”

Danny and Stiles exchanged glances. They had talked over the weekend and agreed that they were better as just friends. 

“Plus, these are our friends,” Danny said. “Stiles and Scott are our friends, whether or not you want to admit it. Just stop acting like this, please Jackson.”

Jackson stared at Danny hard for a minute before shrugging and wrapping his arm around Lydia’s shoulders. “Fine. I just think it’s weird that Stiles spends more time with his ex than he does with you.”

Stiles opened his mouth to say something back to Jackson, but Danny covered his hand with his own. “Don’t. I told you, Jackson just gets defensive of me.”

Stiles swallowed all of the sarcastic things he wanted to say to Jackson and nodded. He didn’t really want to break up with Danny… but he had to agree with all the points he had made. They didn’t really spend a lot of time together. And when they did, things were just kind of awkward. They had made out a few times, but they didn’t really have the same chemistry as Stiles had with Isaac. It was weird. They both wanted to like each other… but it just wasn’t right. 

They had both seemed kind of relieved when they decided to just go back to being friends. 

"So, what, you guys are just friends?" Jackson asked. "Like, you used to make out and now you don't? And that's just... going to be how things are?"

"Yes," Danny said firmly. "That's just the way things are going to be. I like Stiles. But we aren't meant to be a couple. And that's okay."

*

Derek and Stiles were sitting at the kitchen island, Stiles studying and Derek grading homework papers when Derek picked his head up and looked toward the driveway. “Isaac is… walking here?”

Stiles reached out for the bond and felt that Isaac was nearby, but he didn’t understand why. 

They walked out to the stoop and were waiting for Isaac when he came into the clearing around the house. Stiles saw that he had his backpack on and was carrying his lacrosse bag. 

“He’s upset,” Derek said softly, moving down the steps to embrace Isaac when he was close enough. “What’s wrong?”

Isaac kept his head on Derek’s shoulder, so Stiles stepped down and wrapped his arms around them both. After a minute, Isaac raised his head and Stiles saw that his eyes were red, as if he had been crying, but dry now. 

“My dad tried to hit me,” Isaac said softly. “I didn’t let him. I… I didn’t hurt him, well, not much. I knocked him down, but I didn’t lose control or flash my eyes or anything.” His voice sounded proud as he finished. “Derek, can I stay here for a while?”

“Of course,” Derek said, pulling Isaac close again. “You can stay for as long as you want. This is your home too.”

Isaac nodded and smiled faintly. 

*

That night when Laura got home from work, she was surprised when they told her Isaac was moving in. 

“You fought him off? Without losing control? Isaac that’s amazing! But I’m so sorry!”

Isaac chuckled weakly. “Thank you. It’s… it’s been a long time coming. But he never wanted me to work during the school year, so I couldn’t ever save up much money, so I had to depend on him for everything.” His eyes widened, “Shit. What about school? He paid for this semester, but not the Spring semester yet. I’ll have to drop out.”

Laura reached a hand out, “We’ll pay it all. Don’t even worry.”

“What?” Isaac’s draw dropped. “But you can’t! Derek already said you guys won’t take rent money. I can’t ask that and tuition!”

“You’re not asking,” Laura said, “we’re offering.”

“Isaac, you’re pack,” Derek said simply from across the table. “We have more than enough money, plus Laura and I are working, so we can just pay the tuition out of our salary without even dipping into the pack savings fund.”

“Yea?” Isaac said hopefully. 

“And we can help you switch your phone over to our plan and even get a car,” Laura said. “This way you can be completely independent of your dad.”

“But then I’ll just be relying on you two,” Isaac said. 

“You can get a job, if you want,” Laura shrugged. “But really, Isaac, we don’t mind. I’m just glad that you’re safe.”

*

“Hey, what do you guys want to do for Christmas?” Stiles asked during dinner one night in early December. He had been thinking about it, and he knew it would be awkward for Isaac, since he hadn’t really seen his dad since leaving a month ago. He also didn’t know what Laura and Derek had done for the past few years, but he was sure that whatever their new traditions would be, they must still miss their family, particularly at the holiday. 

Derek and Laura exchanged glances. “We… we don’t have any plans,” Laura said finally. She raised her eyebrows at Derek, who returned the look with an eyebrow wiggle of his own. “Also, it’s Derek’s birthday.”

Derek rolled his eyes. For whatever reason, he hadn’t wanted Laura to tell them. 

“What?” Isaac asked with a wide grin. 

Stiles reached over and placed his hand on Derek’s forearm. “Can we do something to celebrate? Please?”

Derek glanced down at Stiles’ hand and then between Laura and Stiles. He took a deep sigh before turning to Stiles. “We haven’t done anything big since the fire.”

Stiles squeezed Derek’s arm. “But you’re back now. And you’ve got a pack. Come on. We can have a joint Christmas and birthday party. Or we could do something on Christmas Eve, or Christmas day, or even on the 26th. But we have a pack now. We should do something all together.”

“I can talk to Cynthia and Marco,” Laura said, “and see what’s good for them.”

“You’re sure?” Derek asked softly. 

Isaac nodded and Laura smiled. “It would be nice to have people over for the holidays,” she added.

“Plus, my dad always either works Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, that way all the other deputies get a chance to have at least one shift off to spend with their families. Laura, if you guys work opposite shifts, then there won’t be any conflict or anything.”

Laura nodded, “I’m sure we could work something out.”

*

Isaac was grinning widely as Cynthia loudly gave directions in the kitchen. Erica, Isaac, and Boyd were all helping her cook the Christmas dinner. Derek had been helping earlier, until someone pointed out that it was his birthday, and then Cynthia pushed him out of the kitchen. Everyone had jumped at the opportunity to have a pack Christmas dinner. Stiles had spent Christmas Eve and this morning with his dad, who was now at work. Dinner ended up being lively and boisterous with so many people around the dining room table. The had opened it up as much as was possible and had just enough chairs to fit everyone around the table. 

After finishing eating and cleaning up, everyone gathered in the living room. They were all full after dinner, and Miracle on 34th Street was playing on the tv. Christmas music was playing quietly throughout the whole house, the fireplace had been lit, and there were Christmas decorations covering almost every surface. Apparently Laura and Erica both loved decorating, so they had gone a little overboard.

Stiles watched as Derek quietly slipped out of the living room, and when he didn’t return from the kitchen a minute later, Stiles got up and quietly followed him. 

“You mind if I intrude?” Stiles asked softly when he saw Derek leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed. 

Derek glanced over and shot a small smile at Stiles, dropping his arms and bracing himself on the counter. “No, come on in.”

Stiles grinned and came over to stand next to Derek, who sighed deeply and smiled again. “Tonight has been amazing,” Derek said softly. “Thank you.”

“Dude, of course,” Stiles said with a grin. 

“Don’t call me dude,” Derek said, leaning over to bump Stiles’ shoulder. 

Stiles grinned down at his feet. He knew by now that Derek wasn’t actually upset at being called dude, but they had been arguing about it for long enough now that it was just part of their discourse. 

“But really, thank you,” Derek said, turning so his hip was against the counter and he was looking at Stiles. “We’ve been back in Beacon Hills for almost eight months now, and…” Derek shook his head, searching for words. “Everything is connected to you. If it weren’t for you…”

Stiles felt like he was being swallowed up by Derek’s green eyes. He blinked after a minute and looked around the kitchen, hoping his cheeks weren’t as red as they felt. “I know. I get it. We have built something pretty amazing this year, right?”

“Are you boys having a moment without me?” Laura asked as she stepped into the kitchen. She came over and wrapped her arms around both of them. “But really, Stiles, thank you. You really have been instrumental in helping us rebuild everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yea so this chapter covers a couple months of mostly happy things... there's always drama... but, like, good and normal drama? Not desperate and traumatic drama...


	15. Springtime Sharing

“So is there a specific reason that we’re not telling my dad?” Stiles asked as he walked into the living room. He had been working in the kitchen, but realized eventually that he couldn’t focus.

Derek and Laura both looked up simultaneously. “What?” Laura asked.

Stiles shrugged and started pacing. “I know we talked about how hard it is to date,” he said, looking at Laura. “Because you need to be completely certain about the person and trust them implicitly before telling them about the pack… but this is different… it’s my dad. He trusts me… mostly, but also more importantly, he loves me, and he’ll take the time to think about it before doing anything rash.”

Derek sat back and raised his eyebrows while he looked at Laura.

“Plus, we don’t have to tell him about the pack, at least not right away, if you don’t want to. We could just start out with my magic, and I’m sure that Deaton would support it if I talked fast enough.” Stiles had been practicing his argument in his head all day.

“Did you ask Deaton yet?” Laura asked.

Stiles shook his head. “You’re my Alpha,” he said simply.

Laura nodded and rose to her feet, but Stiles noticed Derek trying to hide a small grin behind her. “One of the reasons I joined the department is because it’s always important to have the police on your side. But having the Sheriff know about us and support us? That would be a big deal.” She rested her hands on Stiles’ shoulders and stared into his eyes. “You know him better than I do. Not just because he loves you, but do you really think he’ll be accepting of all of this?”

Stiles nodded. “He’ll definitely get a headache thinking through all of it, but yea, he’ll be good eventually.”

Laura nodded. “Okay then. Do you want me to be there when you tell him?”

Stiles nodded. “Definitely. But I do think I should talk to Deaton before my dad, just to make sure he’s not opposed to it.”

“That’s smart,” Laura agreed.

*

“ _Are you busy?”_

Stiles blinked at his phone. Derek hadn’t texted him individually in a while. They normally just chatted through the pack text.

“ _Not really. What’s up_?”

“ _The house is too quiet_.”

Oh shit, Stiles thought to himself. “ _I’ll be right over_ ,” Stiles texted, throwing the book he had been reading into his backpack and grabbing a hoodie as he went downstairs. “Dad I’m going to go hang out with Scott, alright?”

His dad looked up from the tv. “Alright. If you’re staying out late, text me.”

As Stiles drove he cursed to himself silently. Laura and Isaac had flown to New York to finally pack up the apartment. Apparently their landlady hadn’t been willing to renew the lease since they hadn’t been there in a year. She wanted actual residents to maintain the property, not people who would pay rent but leave the place vacant.

Isaac had jumped at the chance to go to New York during his Spring Break, and he and Laura had spent a couple days doing touristy things before driving back to California. Derek had sworn up and down that he would be fine on his own. The pack had gotten together for dinner a couple times in the past week, but apparently the whole weekend on his own had pushed him too far into loneliness.

After Stiles parked, he jogged toward the house. Derek was waiting for him at the top of the porch steps. Stiles stepped into Derek’s arms and they just held each other for a minute.

“Thanks for texting me,” Stiles said into Derek’s shoulder. “What about the rest of the pack, though?”

Derek shook his head. “I had dinner at Marco and Cynthia’s last night. It was nice, but not the same. I miss Laura. But more than that I miss my Alpha. I think the rest of the pack doesn’t feel it as much because they’re newer… but I’ve never been without an Alpha before. I’ve never been apart from Laura for this long before, but I’ve never not had the support of my Alpha. It’s messing with my wolf.”

“How?”

Derek finally let go of Stiles and moved back into the house. Stiles followed, dropping his backpack onto a chair in the kitchen. Derek dropped into his normal seat at the kitchen table in front of an empty mug. Stiles grabbed two seltzers from the fridge and sat across from Derek, pushing one toward him.

“Thanks,” Derek said, rubbing at his hair. “I’ve just felt… angrier all week, and more on-edge. I’m glad that it’s our Spring Break now, because I think I’d be snapping at my students way more than normal because I just seem to have no patience at all.”

“And you think it’s affecting you more because you’re a born wolf?”

Derek shrugged again. “The new betas… ever since they were bit they’ve had slightly shorter tempers. Part of their struggle to get control is learning how to deal with being on-edge. I don’t know that they can pinpoint their struggles this week to Laura’s absence, because it’s a thing that they’ve been struggling with on and off for months now.”

“But you haven’t struggled with it in years,” Stiles guessed.

Derek nodded. “I can still feel Laura, just like I could feel her when she came here last year and I was still in New York. But… it’s not enough.”

“And that was only like two or three days, right? This is a whole week.”

“Yea. I’m glad that Isaac is getting to experience this. He said he’s having a blast. But this week has been rough on me.” Stiles reached out his hand palm up. Derek put his hand in Stiles’ and squeezed.

“Thanks for coming.”

“Of course,” Stiles replied. “But why me?”

“You feel the most like Laura.”

“Because I’m a Spark?”

Derek shrugged. “What movie is next in your Marvel marathon?”

Stiles perked up. “Thor: Ragnarok. It’s one of the best. Are we doing this?”

Derek smiled softly. “I think it’ll be the perfect thing.”

“Fantastic. You make some popcorn and I’ll get it set up.”

*

“Boyd, you are genuinely impressive,” Laura said, the admiration clear in her voice.

“No, I’m sorry, you’re making the rest of us look bad,” Erica said tartly. “How is your control this good?”

Boyd shrugged and grinned.

“Dude. The moon’s been up for over an hour now and you haven’t lost control at all,” Isaac said. “How are you doing this?

“Well, he’s barely had any problems with his control in the past two weeks either,” Derek pointed out, trying to hide his grin from Erica.

“This isn’t fair!” Erica nearly wailed before pointing at Boyd. “You’re lucky I love you, because otherwise I’d be really pissed at how unfair this is.”

Boyd gathered Erica in his arms, “You’re right. I am lucky that you love me.”

“Oh,” she said with a small grin. “Yea.”

“Well, since Boyd doesn’t seem to have any control problems,” James said with a wide grin. “Can we go play tag again?”

“I would like to try that,” Boyd said with a grin, his eyes bleeding yellow for the first time. “I’ve been watching you all play for months now and I’ve been dying to try out this speed for real.”

All the werewolves ran into the woods, leaving just Marco and Stiles in the house. They grinned at each other before turning the tv on. This was part of their new full moon routine. The wolves ran and played for a few hours, expending all of their extra energy, and then came inside and watched tv while eating all the snacks in the house.

*

Stiles sat down with his dad for one of their dinners – they had actually been managing to have dinner together at least a few nights a week lately – and when they were just about finished eating he took a deep breath and said, “Dad, there’s something really important I want to tell you about.”

“Oh no, you’re pregnant,” John deadpanned.

Stiles threw a dirty napkin at him. “Dad, shut up.” They both laughed. “But seriously… there’s no like… normal way to start this conversation, I don’t think, so I’m just going to show you something.” He held out his hand and thought lumos; he figured that one of the first things he ever learned to do with his Spark would be a good place to start.

His dad instantly dropped his fork as his face went slack. “Stiles?”

“So magic is real and I have some,” Stiles said steadily. “Dr. Deaton has actually been training me this whole time I’ve been working for him. You can touch the light if you want. It’s real.” His dad reached out and poked at the light. It wobbled a little around his hand but stayed steady. Stiles focused on the light and caused it to split in two. “Do you want to hold it?” He offered the second globe to his dad, who reached out hesitantly.

Stiles had been so excited when he learned that he could pass his lumos to other people, and Isaac and Derek had played a game of catch, before Stiles realized that keeping it in physical form and letting other people manipulate it so much actually was kind of draining. He could still do it, but he used it more as a necessity now instead of as a game. “Growth, that’s what that is,” Erica had said in her special sort of snark-compliment.

“This is real?” His dad eventually asked, staring at the small ball of light that he was rolling around in his palm. “It’s not like… smoke and mirrors? Or… an illusion?”

“No, it’s real,” Stiles promised. “And I don’t want to freak you out, but do you want to see more?” His dad nodded so Stiles stood up slowly. He stepped behind the chair and pulled on his Spark to complete the most complex spell he had perfected so far – invisibility (“Yes, I get it that it’s not actually invisibility and it’s really just a temporary aura that diverts people’s attention away from me, but can’t you let me have any fun?”).

“What?” His dad asked, looking around quickly.

Stiles took a few steps to the left and let the temporary aura fall so he would reappear, and his dad jumped in his chair. Stiles grinned and waggled his fingers.

“Can you like… levitate things? Teleport? Transform into an animal?”

“You’re taking this really well,” Stiles replied, slipping back into his chair.

“No, I think I’m just still in shock,” his dad said with a chuckle. “The logical part of my brain is taking over while the rest of it reboots.”

Stiles nodded. “I can levitate things, but I’m not very good at it yet. I’ve been practicing. I can’t teleport, because that’s a technology from Star Trek, not actual magic. I asked Deaton about apparating, which is the same thing, shut up, you know the difference between Star Trek and Harry Potter,” Stiles laughed as his dad rolled his eyes. “He said that was ridiculous, which, honestly, from what I’ve learned about how magic really works, I agree with him. And I can’t transform into anything, but that does actually bring me to my next point.”

Stiles’ dad waited for a few seconds, “Which is?”

“There are other supernatural people,” Stiles admitted. “I’m the only Spark, that’s what I’m called- not a wizard or anything like that, a Spark. I’m the only Spark in town, but there are others. And… since you’re taking this so well, would you like to learn more about other supernatural people?”

“Do I know any of them already?” His dad had his suspicious expression on.

“You do,” Stiles promised, “and you like them and trust them… as you should, because they’re totally normal and honestly… really great people.”

Stiles’ dad squinted at him. “Are you being vague because…” he trailed off, seeming not to know exactly what he was asking.

“Because I want to make sure that you’re ready and won’t actually freak out.”

Stiles’ dad sighed deeply. “Does this magic and these suddenly supernatural friends have anything to do with your sudden motivation this past year?”

Stiles shrugged. “Kind of.”

Stiles’ dad sighed again. “Hell, who is it? I should probably thank them for helping you out. I know we were both doing our best, but in the past year your grades have gone up, you’ve earned college credits, you made it to the starting line-up on lacrosse, and we’ve both saved some extra money, so whoever this new influence has been, it definitely seems to have been positive.”

There was a knock at the kitchen door. Stiles’ dad turned to face the room. He gestured to Stiles to welcome in their guest. “While you’re in there, you can grab the hidden cookies you have above the fridge. I think I’ve earned them.”

Stiles laughed as he went to open the door for Laura. She was grinning as she stepped in. “I thought he might like these more,” she said as she held up a large tupperware of home-made chocolate chip cookies. Stiles grabbed the milk from the fridge and a couple cups before the pair walked back into the dining room.

Laura was smiling hesitantly as she entered the room and Stiles’ dad stared at her like he didn’t quite understand what was happening.

“You?” he finally asked.

Laura grinned and shrugged. “I made these. I thought they might help soften the blow.” Then she flashed her red eyes at him and he jumped the tiniest bit.

John held out his hand and Laura placed the container of cookies in front of him on the table. Stiles poured milk for his dad and put it within his reach before sitting in his chair again and gesturing for Laura to sit on his dad’s other side. She looked to John and waited for him to nod before pulling out the chair and sitting.

“Tell me everything,” John said after taking a bite of cookie. “You might as well get it all out, that way I only have to deal with one night of shocking revelations.” He turned to point the cookie at Stiles. “I would like to say that I’m very appreciative of the trust you’re putting in me, since I’m aware that this all means you’ve probably been lying to me for a while, and that you’re making the choice not to lie anymore. I appreciate that. But I’m also going to require at least a full week of free reign on snacks after this.”

Stiles laughed, “Sure thing dad.”


	16. Communication is the first step... right?

“Hey Derek, would you pass the salt?” Stiles’ dad asked. “Stiles, don’t even look at me like that. I’m only going to put a tiny bit on the corn.”

“I’ll take the salt when you’re done with it, please,” Isaac said. “Laura, did we grow this salad?”

She nodded and smiled. “Yea. I swear, Boyd must have a green thumb. We were more strategic in the garden this year, since we actually got everything in on time, and it’s been amazing.”

“Isaac we’ve been eating stuff from the garden all week,” Derek said with a small laugh.

Isaac shrugged. “I don’t know, guys, there’s just always food in the fridge. I thought maybe it was magic.”

John shoved gently at Isaac’s shoulder since Isaac was sitting in his normal seat to John’s left. “Don’t you go food shopping ever?”

Isaac laughed, “Only when I’m cooking here.”

“Because we keep a skeleton fridge?” Stiles guessed.

“Because you eat at our house like, three days a week,” Isaac answered, “and then you order out the other half of the time.”

Stiles and his dad both shrugged simultaneously, and then chuckled at each other. “I like that we’ve been doing this though,” John said, waving his fork around the table. “It’s nice having folks over.”

“It is nice,” Laura agreed. “It’s nice to have informal pack dinners.”

“About that,” John started, “Stiles told me that you had been thinking about adding new people? Is that still in consideration?”

Laura finished chewing thoughtfully before shaking her head. “My original plan was to add two betas a year, provided we found people who were good fits. But instead we got five in the first year,” she chuckled as she poked the food around her plate a little. “I’m not in a hurry at this point.”

Derek and Stiles exchanged looks, and Laura tracked their movements. “Why, did you have anyone specific in mind?” Laura asked with a laugh as she looked at Stiles.

He shrugged, “I mean, the list still stands. I even revised it a few times, but there’s no rush.”

“Of course you revised the list,” Derek laughed.

“Oh my god, Dad! I almost forgot to tell you! Melissa said she wants to have a barbecue next week and she demanded that you come.”

As Stiles and his father started explaining to Isaac how Melissa always throws the best barbecues each summer, Derek watched Stiles with a faint smile. Laura listened to the stories, but kept most of her attention on her brother’s small grin.

*

“You know, we could leave the last of these dishes until the next load. That is why you bought a dishwasher, right?” Stiles was eyeing the still half-full sink dubiously.

Derek shrugged as he turned the dishwasher on. “I’ll wash them if you want to go outside with Laura, Erica, and Boyd?” Derek cocked his head to the side, “Or you could nap, I guess? I’m pretty sure Isaac’s napping upstairs.”

“Nah, I’m good here with you,” Stiles said with a one-shouldered shrug. “I’ll wash and you dry, alright?”

Derek grinned, grabbed a clean towel, and stepped close to Stiles.

“Hey did you get your schedule for school yet?” Derek asked, “You’re starting on Tuesday, aren’t you?”

Stiles nodded. “Yea.” Stiles chuckled, “Senior year is going to be great. I’m taking four more AP classes, but I have early dismissal this year, so that’s awesome.”

Derek shot Stiles a grin, “That’s awesome, Stiles.”

They washed and put away a few more dishes in comfortable silence, but after Stiles got to the third cutting board, he glanced at Derek. “Dude, it’s awesome that you’re teaching Isaac to cook. He’s really enjoying it. But do you have to use every pot and pan and cutting board and utensil in the kitchen?”

Derek laughed loudly, as he put away a cutting board. “We didn’t use everything!”

“Every single thing,” Stiles said, enunciating each word slowly and carefully and staring at Derek, who just continued laughing. Stiles stared at him fondly for a moment until Derek managed to catch his breath. “I hope I’m lucky enough to be with someone like you someday,” Stiles mused as he turned back to wash the next plate.

“What?” Derek asked, pausing with the cutting board halfway in place.

Stiles shrugged. “Was that creepy? Sorry, I just… I hope that someday I can be with someone like you, because you’re like, the full package.” Derek just continued to stare at Stiles. “But I mean… like, obviously you wouldn’t be into me, I know that, it’s just--” Stiles was interrupted by Derek’s sudden movement. He rarely saw Derek move at his full-speed, but within a heartbeat, Stiles was pushed up against the wall behind him, caged in by Derek’s arms. Derek had his eyes closed and was breathing heavily. Stiles shook the water off his hands gently as Derek just stood in front of him with his hands braced on the wall above Stiles’ shoulders, the tense line of his shoulders and arms preventing Stiles from doing anything. “Derek?” Stiles inquired softly after another moment.

“I am not,” Derek took another deep, ragged breath, “uninterested.”

Stiles felt like he couldn’t breathe suddenly. Had Derek really just said what he thought he did? “Really?” Stiles breathed eventually.

Derek nodded and finally opened his eyes. They were glowing faintly blue, but Stiles could tell that he was trying to make them fade. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have lost control like that.”

Derek dropped his arms and started to step back, but Stiles reached out and grabbed his hands so Derek couldn’t run too far away. “Don’t apologize. It’s ok. I trust you completely, so I wasn’t scared.”

Derek nodded and the blue faded a little more from his eyes. “What I said, before,” Stiles asked, “was one of those insensitively cavalier things again, wasn’t it?”

Derek shook his head, “You had no way to know,” he said, sounding like he was apologizing again. “You can, of course, date whoever you want. I would be… flattered if you dated someone… like me.” Derek sounded like he was struggling to get the words out.

“But you’d rather I date you?” Stiles guessed. He wasn’t sure whether to feel hopeful or confused. He had certainly had countless daydreams about Derek, but none of them had ever gone like this. None of them had involved Derek losing control over the thought of Stiles being interested in him, and then suggesting he date other people.

Derek squeezed his eyes shut again. “Stiles you’re still in high school.”

“But I’m 18 now.” Stiles looked down at their joined hands. Derek hadn’t pulled away, which was a good sign, right?

“But I’m a teacher. I know I’m just substituting in the middle school, but I’m still trying to get hired at Beacon Hills High,” Derek ground out, before opening his eyes. The blue was completely gone now and he wore a pleading expression that Stiles had never seen before. “I can’t date a high schooler, even if you are legal. I can’t. I’d… I’d ruin my career before it even started.”

Stiles squeezed Derek’s hands, “Then we wait. I graduate in ten months. That’s not too long.”

Derek looked down at their joined hands now. “But… but I don’t want to stop you from having a normal… you shouldn’t just be waiting around for me.”

Stiles laughed shortly, “I don’t know if you’ve missed the complete lack of interest from the people I go to school with, other than when I was hooking up with Isaac for a couple weeks last year. Plus… Laura did talk about how hard it is to date, since we would basically have to lie about so much of our lives.” Derek nodded. “And we already know each other and we know we like each other, right? Since I haven’t already made you run for the hills with my rambling and weirdly intense bursts of things…”

“And you don’t hate me for being grumpy and quiet so much of the time,” Derek added on.

“See? We already know each other. We already like each other. We already trust each other. And once I graduate… you’ll acknowledge that you’re attracted to me?” Derek snorted but nodded once. “Then we wait,” Stiles concluded.

“You say that like it’s easy,” Derek said.

Stiles shrugged. “Not easy. It’s just that it’s our only valid choice. I don’t want to push you into something you aren’t ready for, and I also don’t plan on doing anything to weaken the pack. Just like I’m here for the pack long-term, I’m here for this. I meant it before, when I said that I’d be lucky to be with someone like you. If I have the chance to be with the real deal, I can wait. You’re smart and thoughtful and generous and funny… not to mention beyond gorgeous.”

“Stop describing me,” Derek laughed as he lifted one hand to cup Stiles’ cheek. “There aren’t enough words to describe how lucky I am to have you in my life.”

*

Derek sat on the couch with a sigh, reveling in the silence. He always loved having the pack over, which, during the summer was basically the whole entire weekend, but sometimes it was nice when most of them went home and he could enjoy the quiet. He listened to Isaac in his room upstairs; it sounded like he was playing that new video game Stiles recommended. Laura was in the kitchen wiping the counters down. Derek had offered to do it, but she said she liked the peacefulness of it.

He dropped his head back onto the couch, more content than he had been in a long time.

“So, do you want to talk about what happened today with Stiles?” Laura was standing in the archway between the two rooms, watching him.

Derek shrugged. “You were listening?”

Laura came closer and sat at the opposite end of the couch. “That was the closest you’ve come to losing control in years. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Derek chuckled, “You weren’t worried about Stiles?”

“Nah,” Laura replied. “Besides the fact that I know he can take care of himself, I also know that you would give your right arm before hurting him or letting anyone else hurt him.”

“Am I that obvious?”

“No, I don’t think so, not to the rest of them. I just know you.” Laura reached out and put her hand on Derek’s arm. “We knew he was special from day one. You knew he was special, but you also knew that he was something more.”

“That’s why you warned me,” Derek pointed out.

Laura grinned. “Derek, I love you endlessly, but as both your big sister and your Alpha, that means I need to look out for you…”

“And you wanted to make sure I didn’t make another terrible decision in my long line of terrible decisions,” Derek said with a wry grin.

“He was young then, but he was also a stranger. Now, we know him. We know him and trust him and love him. I honestly couldn’t pick anyone better for you.”

“It would be convenient if I hadn’t fallen in love with someone who is still in high school,” Derek laughed dryly. “It’s like… I’ve finally found someone who is actually good for me and the pack…”

“But the timing is wrong,” Laura finished.

“I got it mostly right… I just can’t get it all right.”

Laura laughed and pulled him close to her. “Just be careful. You both deserve to be happy, and I genuinely think you will make each other happy.”

“But still… be careful. I know.”

*

“Has Derek told you any details about his relationships?”

Stiles nearly fell out of his chair in Deaton’s back office. He had his own designated workspace now, and he was grateful that he had a place to keep some of his more dangerous magical supplies. Some of them were harmful to werewolves, so he didn’t feel comfortable keeping them at the Hale house, but he also didn’t want anything too weird at his dad’s house. His dad had been super understanding, but there was really only so much he could ask of the man.

Stiles repositioned himself before turning back to Laura. “No, but he doesn’t need to, not really. He did imply that there was a relationship that ended worse than the one he had with… that girl who was bit, but he didn’t give me any details.”

Laura nodded as she stepped into the small room. “I’m not going to give any details, since they’re not mine to give, but I just wanted to talk to you a little about Derek and his… history.”

Stiles nodded and turned his chair to fully face Laura. She studied him for a moment before Stiles leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “You know I love him, right?”

Laura sighed and sat down across from Stiles. “I know. But also… you’re young, Stiles. You’re young and you’re in the middle of these really transformative years. The next few years… so many things change…” Laura shook her head. “I don’t want either of you to hurt each other.”

“I would never--” Stiles started but Laura held her hand up so he paused.

“I know you would never intentionally hurt him, but I’m afraid that you could hurt him by accident.” She sighed. “Listen. When Derek was in high school he was in a relationship with an older person.” Laura shook her head as she continued, “It fucked him up in a lot of ways, and there’s a part of him that’s petrified that he’s even a little bit like her.”

“Because I'm still in high school?”

Laura nodded. “She preyed on him. She was sick and abusive and convinced him to lie to everyone. I’m not telling you this to expose his secrets but because you need to know, Stiles. There’s a part of him that’s petrified that he’s like her, because he was gone on you since day one.”

“What?” Stiles’ mouth fell open. “But…”

“Yea,” Laura confirmed. “That was almost a year and a half ago.”

“Fuck,” Stiles said, smacking his face. “And I fucked around with Isaac all of last summer. Did that kill him?”

Laura pursed her lips. “He wouldn’t talk about it. I’m pretty sure he was trying to convince himself that it was fine, and that just being your friend and packmate was good enough, but he was definitely happier once you guys stopped.”

“God damn,” Stiles said. “And then I complained to him about Danny?”

“He wants you to be happy.”

“But what about him?” Stiles asked, dropping his hands to stare at Laura. “He deserves to be happy too.”

“You and I agree on that,” Laura said tiredly, “but Derek struggles to.”

“Okay, so he’s feeling insecure and hating himself a little since I’m younger than he is.”

“But he’s also afraid of ruining your life,” Laura continued. “Like, if you miss out on ‘normal’ high school or college experiences because you feel like you’re being held back by him or the pack… then he wouldn’t forgive himself.”

“He did say I could date other people if I wanted to this year,” Stiles said.

“And he won’t stop you,” Laura said.

“But it’ll kill him,” Stiles said, a phrase that was also a question.

Laura nodded slowly, “And when you go to college…”

“You’re afraid I’ll cheat on him or something like that.”

“Long distance relationships are hard,” Laura conceded. “Again, I don’t think you would do it on purpose.”

“Because I’m young and stupid.”

Laura laughed, “Because every single person I’ve ever known has done stupid shit when they were 18, and 19, and 20, and even into their early 20s. You don’t think Derek and I both have done stupid shit? Ask any adult if they did stupid shit when they were your age, and every single person will admit that they did.”

Stiles dropped his face into his hands. “So you mean happily ever after takes work, is what you’re saying?”

“Happily ever after isn’t real,” Laura said, rubbing the back of Stiles’ head gently. “Real relationships take work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Folks I struggled with this chapter. I want them to communicate openly like nice healthy people because I get annoyed sometimes by all the drama caused by people not talking to each other. But also... it's hard!
> 
> Because Stiles was held back the year his mom died, he turned 18 the spring of his junior year, so... legally they could date. But my policy is 100% no because no. Also, Derek is using his career as an excuse for why they shouldn't date, but there's obviously so much more going on inside his head. That's just his primary excuse/reason.


	17. Transitions

Scott sat down heavily next to Stiles where he was studying in the library. They had a lacrosse meeting after school so Stiles couldn’t leave early like he normally would.

“Allison and I broke up,” Scott said mournfully.

“Again?” Stiles asked without looking up from his book.

“Stiles, I think it’s for real this time.”

Stiles looked up finally. “Yea? I’m sorry dude.”

Scott sighed deeply. “I know we’ve broken up like three times already--”

“Four,” Stiles corrected.

“Fine, four, whatever,” Scott said with another sigh, “but I think it’s for real now. She was really mad at me.”

“Why?”

“Well, I was telling her that I didn’t want her going to that college party with Isaac this weekend,” Scott started.

“The one that we were all invited to, but you can’t go because your asshole father wants to hang out?”

“Yea, that one,” Scott said with a wave, “but I told her I didn’t want her to go without me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It’s a college party…”

“So?” Stiles asked, glancing at the clock. “Come on, let’s start walking toward the locker room. Scott, Isaac’s going to be there, and I was thinking about going too, and Erica and Boyd said they would probably show too. Why don’t you want Allison to go?”

“It’s just weird for her to go to a college party without me,” Scott whined, following Stiles out of the library.

“But that’s what I don’t get, dude. If most of the pack is going to be there, why would it be weird? You know that they’ll look out for her.”

Scott grimaced. “That’s basically what she said.”

Stiles stared at Scott a minute before he blushed, “And then I said some stupid things about, you know, how she shouldn’t want to go out unless I was there, and then I also said…” Scott winced again and looked down at his shoes.

“You said what?”

“That when we got married I wouldn’t feel comfortable with her partying with guys without me,” Scott said softly, wincing the whole time.

Stiles stopped in the crowded hallway to stare at Scott. “Dude. You know I love you.” Scott nodded. “But you know that was a royally dumb thing to say, right? Like, that’s all kinds of sexist and controlling.”

“I know!” Scott wailed. “I just… I go crazy when we fight! Like, I love her so much, but then when we’re fighting she drives me crazy!”

Stiles walked up and put his arm over Scott’s shoulders. “Look. Maybe you’re right. Maybe you’re broken up for good this time. But even if you aren’t… you guys should probably take a break for a while. If you go that crazy when you fight… and you’ve already broken up four, well, five times now, maybe…” Stiles sighed. “Dude, this just isn’t a healthy relationship.”

Scott sighed deeply again. “I know. You’re right. Maybe if we take a break for a few weeks, we can get back together again.”

Stiles sighed and smacked his face. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“Hey, who’s that?”

Stiles looked in the direction Scott was looking. “She must be a new student,” Stiles guessed.

“She’s so cute,” Scott sighed.

Stiles glanced sideways at him in surprise. That was the same voice Scott used whenever he talked about Allison… in the first half of each of their relationships at least.

Stiles felt something coming off of the new girl, but couldn’t figure it out, “Scott, she’s making my spidey senses tingle.”

“Dude please do not call them that,” Scott groaned.

*

“ _Stiles. Allison just texted that she’s coming to the party alone and she broke up with Scott and it’s for real what do I do?!??_ ”

Stiles couldn’t help but chuckle at Isaac’s panicked text.

“ _No but dude you don’t get it,_ ” Isaac texted again. “ _I never hit on Allison but she’s single now, but if I hit on her already it’ll be too soon and I’ll be a shithead. But what if she wants to hook up with someone else? Do I just have to watch?_ ” Just as Stiles was starting to type a response, Isaac texted again. “ _Or even worse what if she wants to hook up with me but, just like as a rebound? What if it doesn’t mean anything to her?”_

Stiles rolled his eyes and just called Isaac. He picked up the second ring. “Dude help,” he groaned.

“Did she tell you what they were fighting about?”

“Yea. Apparently Scott was being a controlling, misogynistic jerk?”

“Yep,” Stiles said, flopping backwards onto his bed. “And remember, he ends up doing something like this every time right before they break up, except he said he thinks it’s for good this time.”

“Yea, Allison said that too,” Isaac agreed.

“And I told him that even if they wanted to get back together, because they’re obviously both crazy, sorry dude, but I told Scott that it probably wasn’t healthy… like they’re not healthy together.”

“You said that?” Isaac asked.

“Yea, man. Look at them. This is the fifth time they’ve broken up. And it’s never been a peaceful thing. Like, they’re always fighting.”

“Yea, I guess you’re right,” Isaac said. “But… what if she wants to hook up with someone this weekend?”

“Look, dude, just be there for her. I’ll see if I can manage it, but I’ll try to be there too. If she wants to hook up with you… then huzzah… and then you can try to make it turn into more than just a rebound. But if she wants to hook up with someone else… then that can be her rebound, and you can ask her out another time.”

“But… I don’t know if I can watch her hook up with someone else.”

“Well, then I’ll be there to support you,” Stiles said. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to convince his dad to let him go to a college party… but he was sure he could figure something out.

*

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Allison said, staring over Stiles’ shoulder. He spun around and saw Scott walking through the door, holding the new girl’s hand as she followed him through the crowd. “We just fucking broke up, and he brought a girl here?” She chugged the last of her beer before throwing the empty solo cup at the garbage can. “Fuck this.”

She stalked off away from them and Stiles reached out along the bonds, confirming that Isaac was in the direction Allison was going.

Stiles then jumped to intercept Scott before he could catch sight of Allison’s retreating back. “Hey man,” Stiles said loudly.

“Stiles!” Scott shouted happily. “Stiles this is Kira!”

“Nice to meet you Kira!” Stiles replied, glancing around. He wanted to figure out where Allison and Isaac were so that he could keep Scott’s attention away from them. Scott was clearly focused on Kira now, but he didn’t want to deal with whatever drama would arise from the three of them interacting already. “Hey, do you guys want drinks? I can go grab whatever you want from the kitchen.”

“A beer?” Scott asked hopefully.

“Uh… maybe a soda?” Kira asked.

“No problem. A beer and a soda coming up. See if you can find some seats on the couches over there.” Stiles dashed into the kitchen just in time to see Allison and Isaac making out.

As he stepped into the room, Isaac breathed out, “Holy fuck finally.”

Allison pulled back and looked up at him, “Wait finally? What do you mean?” Stiles could see Isaac’s blush from across the room. He opened the fridge quickly and grabbed a couple drinks blindly before closing it and trying to rush from the room. He still heard as Allison asked, “Oh my god, wait, Isaac, do you like me?”

Stiles handed Scott and Kira drinks once he found them, and paid attention to Isaac’s bond as he started moving. He pulled out his phone and texted, “ _Dude did you and Allison just leave?”_

Stiles looked up to see Scott and Kira flirting awkwardly, so he turned away, surveying the room. He recognized a few people that were friends with Isaac from his classes, but nobody that he felt like talking to.

“Holy hell why am I here?”

“ _Yea we’re going to the diner to talk. She said she likes me too! But it’s weird because of Scott._ ”

“ _That’s cool dude. Open communication is good.”_

“Oh thank god you’re here,” Erica’s voice preceded her by just a second, and Stiles braced himself the instant before Erica jumped onto his back.

“Hey man,” Boyd greeted as he stepped up next to Stiles as he straightened up and Erica jumped off his back, straightening her skirt as she grinned at him.

“I was just thinking about leaving,” Stiles admitted. “But I guess I can stay if you guys are here.”

“Where’s Isaac?” Boyd asked. “We only came because he asked us to.”

“He just left with Allison,” Stiles said with a wry grin, “after Scott showed up with Kira, this new girl at school.” He gestured with his chin and Erica and Boyd both looked at the pair and then looked back at Stiles with wide eyes.

“He brought a girl here?” Erica asked in a stage whisper.

“We can leave too,” Boyd said. “We don’t really like parties. Most of them are too loud.”

“Alright,” Stiles said. “Let me go tell Scott we’re leaving.”

*

“Dude thanks for coming to movie night at Kira’s,” Scott said. “Her parents are really nice, but kind of intense.”

“No problem, dude.” Stiles responded, parking the Jeep in front of Kira’s house. “I’m excited whenever I get to spend time with you. We just keep getting busier and busier.”

“I know,” Scott agreed as he got out of the car. “We have to take every chance we can get before you go away to Stanford.”

Stiles laughed as Kira swung the door open, “Hi guys! I’m so glad you’re here!”

Stiles walked into Kira’s house and her mom nearly dropped a bowl of chips when she saw him. Kira eyed her mom strangely, but introduced everyone.

Her mom nodded and said, “Oh Stiles, would you help me in the kitchen?”

He hurriedly followed her and stopped just inside the kitchen door. “Sorry if this is rude… but what are you?”

“I didn’t realize there was a Spark in town,” she said as she started pulling out salsas and drinks from the fridge. “I would have reached out to you sooner. How are you so powerful but so young? And how do you hide your power? I couldn’t sense you until you walked in the door, but now you’re overpowering….”

Stiles immediately reeled in his power like Deaton had taught him. He hadn’t realized that he had gotten lazy with that recently and hadn’t meditated in… shit since he started school? Had it really been that long? Deaton didn’t make him meditate during their trainings anymore… but how did Stiles drop that routine already?

Kira popped in and was like, “Mom what’s taking so long? We’re ready to get started.”

Stiles laughed “I think I’ve got almost everything to bring in. I just need one more second.” Kira shrugged and ducked out of the room again. Then he turned back to her mom and whispered, “I work for Dr. Deaton, the vet, tomorrow after school. Come visit us? He’s a druid.” She nodded and they rushed to the living room to try to act normal with everyone.

It was only on the drive home that Stiles realized that Kira’s mom never actually revealed what she was.

*

“Stiles, what’s wrong?” Deaton asked, answering on the second ring.

“Nothing, I don’t think,” Stiles said. He never called Deaton this late, but he figured it was worth the interruption in whatever Deaton’s private life was. “But I ran into someone today who’s definitely supernatural, and I invited her to visit us at the clinic tomorrow at four.”

“She’s non-violent?”

“Yea, I think so,” Stiles said with a shrug. “Her daughter, Kira, is dating Scott. Have you ever met her?”

“No, but Scott has been talking about her a lot.”

“I’ve been getting kind of weird vibes from Kira, but her mom, Noshiko, was like, turned up to thirteen. She felt… electrical kind of like we do, but more, but also earthy like the weres. And when I asked her what she was, she redirected the conversation. I don’t think she’s violent, but she’s definitely something.”

“Thanks for the heads up. I’ll clear the appointments for tomorrow afternoon, just in case.”

“Good idea. Should I have one of the pack tailing the clinic?”

Deaton thought for a moment before responding, “No. But maybe talk to Laura and have someone on alert, just to be on the safe side. The two of us should be able to handle your friend’s mom, whatever she is.”

*

Stiles left school the next day as soon as his last period ended. He usually hung out in the library or did some homework before heading over to Deaton’s, but he wanted to be prepared today.

He set up one of his new alert wards that Abuela Araceli had taught him. He was able to tweak it so that it would alert him if anyone crossed the barrier or if specifically anyone supernatural crossed it.  
After a few moment’s of concentration, he was satisfied that they would have a head’s up before Noshiko got too close to the clinic.

When he walked into the clinic, he saw that Deaton had also prepared several different ingredients and solutions, which he had begged Stiles to stop calling potions. He was planning to be prepared just in case things turned dangerous also.

“Can I do anything to help?” Stiles asked, putting his backpack on his desk.

Deaton shook his head. “Meditate and be ready.”

Stiles nodded and settled down in his normal spot. It only took a moment for him to relax and feel for all of the pack bonds. Derek and Laura were both working, although it felt like Laura was on this side of town. Cynthia and James were also nearby. They had offered to go shopping at a nearby store so that they would be nearby in case Stiles and Deaton needed them. Isaac, Boyd, and Erica were all the way across town, on the BHCC campus.

Stiles opened his eyes when he felt his alert ward activate. “Someone supernatural is coming,” he said softly.

Deaton nodded and rose. Stiles followed him until they were both standing near the front door of the clinic. Noshiko parked her black car near the front and got out, grinning and waving when she saw Stiles.

“Very threatening,” Stiles said under his breath and Deaton chuckled before opening the door and stepping outside.

“Please, come inside,” he said, sounding formal. “We would be glad to talk with you.”

Noshiko nodded and followed them in. Deaton brought them to his office and gestured for them all to sit. Stiles walked to stand behind Deaton, leaning against his bookshelf. “My name is Alan Deaton,” he said once everyone was settled. “I am a Druid. You’ve met Stiles, my student?”

Noshiko nodded. “I am Noshiko Yukimura. I am a fire kitsune.” Stiles whistled softly and Noshiki smiled before continuing. “I already apologized to Stiles, but I would like to extend that apology to you as well. I didn’t realize there were other members of the community here. Otherwise I would have introduced myself.”

“The Hale werewolf pack also lives in Beacon Hills,” Deaton pointed out. “But since Stiles is their emissary, you’ve taken care of the necessary introduction and apology there as well. We’re glad to have you here in Beacon Hills.”

“Our alpha, Laura Hale, would like to meet you eventually though,” Stiles said with a small grin.

Noshiko nodded. “You are young to be an emissary.”

Stiles shrugged. “I’m in the same grade as Kira. She’s a fire kitsune too, right? She doesn’t quite feel the same as you, but there’s definitely something there.”

“She’s a thunder kitsune,” Noshiko corrected. “Although she doesn’t know anything about our kind yet.”

“Nothing?” Deaton asked mildly.

“Hey so… do you plan on telling her,” Stiles asked, leaning forward slightly, “or just waiting until something bad happens and then she’ll start… what… shooting electricity or thunder at whoever attacked her and then she’ll have to deal with that on top of panicking about what’s wrong with her?”

Noshiko smiles faintly, “If she does not manifest her powers by her twentieth birthday, we will help her access them. This is tradition.”

“Stiles does… have a good point, though,” Deaton observes, and Stiles can tell that it almost pains Deaton to acknowledge that. “Even if Kira’s powers haven’t manifested themselves yet, she doesn’t necessarily need to live in ignorance of the larger supernatural community, does she?”

Noshiko nodded slightly. “I will consider your points. Kira is… flighty. It has been quite a while since I trained a new kitsune. Perhaps I should adapt my techniques to this age.”

Stiles squinted at her slightly, but before he could formulate a question, his phone rang. “Hey Laura,” he answered with a grin. “You’re free now?” He glanced between Deaton and Noshiko.

“I’d be happy to meet her,” Noshiko said and Deaton nodded.

“Come on to Deaton’s. We’re chatting in Deaton’s office.”

“Kay. See you in a minute.”

“Laura works for the Sheriff’s office,” Deaton explained.

“Smart,” Noshiko agreed. “It’s always a good idea to have someone on the force if possible.”

“My dad’s the Sheriff too,” Stiles added. “And he’s a pack ally.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Quite impressive. How big is your pack?”

Stiles heard the back door of the clinic open and grinned as he stepped around the desk to greet Laura. She hugged him quickly, squeezing the back of his neck briefly, before letting go to introduce herself to Noshiko.

After some brief introductions, Laura briefly explained her family history and Noshiko nodded, “That’s right, I do remember hearing about that. We were living in New York at the time. I have to move every few decades, you understand.”

“About that,” Stiles said, leaning forward again. “That’s the second time you’ve implied…” he glanced between Deaton and Noshiko. “I can’t think of a polite way to ask how old you are, but…”

Noshiko laughed. “Normally, women don’t like being asked that, you’re right. But I’m so far beyond old that I don’t mind. Plus, I get to be honest with so few people that it’s refreshing. I am going to be 937 next Spring.”

There was silence in the room for a few minutes before Laura managed to gather her wits. “That’s… quite impressive. We’re glad to have you here as our neighbors. What did bring you to Beacon Hills, by the way?”

“My husband Ken was just hired at the high school. He’s an Assistant Principal and he’s also going to be teaching the Global History class.”

Stiles choked and covered his mouth while Laura let out a surprised laugh. “My brother interviewed for that job and was hoping to hear back from them. He’ll be disappointed to hear that they gave the job to someone else.”

Noshiko smiled, “I’m sure your brother is very qualified, but my husband has been a teacher for almost twenty-five years, as well as an assistant principal for five.”

Laura laughed, “Just because Derek will be disappointed doesn’t mean the school didn’t make the right choice. I love my brother, but he can’t compete with that level of experience.”


	18. Argents

A few weeks later the pack was gathered together for a pack dinner at the Hale house, and Isaac and Scott were trying to explain to Erica that it wasn’t weird for Isaac to date Allison after Scott dated her on and off for a year and a half.

“Nope. No. It’s weird,” Erica laughed after their last arguments.

“Come on, Erica. You know I’ve been crushing on her forever. As far as I’m concerned, Allison Argent is one of the most perfect--” Isaac stopped talking, looking between Laura and Derek who had frozen. “Wait, what’s happening?” Isaac said, shrinking back slightly at Laura and Derek’s reactions.

“Argent?” Derek breathed out.

Scott and Isaac nodded, exchanging worried looks.

“What’s wrong with her family?” Stiles asked.

Laura dropped her face into her hands. “The Argents are one of the most famous families of hunters in the world, and they have a particular history in Beacon Hills.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Scott asked. “I mean, I don’t really like hunting at all, but what does that matter?”

Laura looked up between her fingers. “They don’t hunt deer or anything like that. They hunt us.”

The three teenagers were silent for almost a whole minute until Stiles loudly smacked his face, “Holy fucking shit how did I not put it together?” Everyone turned to look at him. Stiles was staring between Laura and Derek with wide eyes. “No…” he said, holding a hand over his mouth.

“What?” Isaac and Scott asked.

Laura’s eyes widened with surprise as she realized what Stiles must be putting together in his head, but Derek just stared at Stiles, almost seeming like he was waiting. Derek’s shoulders slowly drew up as if he was preparing himself for something he already dreaded, but Stiles just threw his arms out and drew Derek into a hug. “We don’t have to talk about it,” Stiles said softly into Derek’s ear. “Don’t worry.” With those words, Derek relaxed and wrapped his arms tightly around Stiles’ waist, burying his nose in Stiles’ neck. The position was slightly awkward since they were still sitting at the table, but with a few minor adjustments, they were both comfortable enough.

Scott and Isaac exchanged glances as the hug went on and Stiles started rubbing the back of Derek’s head. They pulled apart eventually, ignoring the questioning looks that Scott and Isaac shoot at them.

Later, when Stiles was driving Scott home later, Scott asked, “So, um, what happened before with Derek?”

Stiles shook his head as he drove, “Nothing really. Or more like, something really personal that I realized about Derek.”

“Okay… and is anything going on with the two of you?”

“What? No! Why?”

“I dunno,” Scott said with a shrug, “that was just… a really… intimate looking hug.”

Stiles barked out a laugh, “Nah dude, Derek just needed some comfort.”

Scott studied Stiles while he drove for a moment before speaking again, “Remember when we first met Derek? And I couldn’t decide if he was weird or what?” Stiles nodded. “I think I get him now. He’s cool.”

Stiles grinned, “Yea. Yea he is.”

*

That night Stiles was bent over his desk studying when he sensed Derek at his window. He grinned up at the window and gave a small nod as Derek slid it up and gracefully climbed in.

“Can we… can we talk about what you realized before?” Derek asked as he leaned against the wall near the window.

Stiles sighed and closed his book. “Do you want to?”

“No,” admitted Derek, “but I want to make sure you’ve made the right connections. I know you are right, like, 85% of the time… but this is… I just don’t want you to have the wrong idea.”

“Like, the idea that you were dating an Argent, who, based on my googling, must have either been Kate or Jacob, but they’re both several years older than you, which they probably could have used to convince you not to tell your family about them, because they knew that your family would hear the name and warn you off them. But they manipulated and used you to try to kill your whole family.”

Derek was silent for half a minute before he walked over and sat hard on Stiles’ bed and whispered, “It was Kate.”

Stiles nodded solemnly. “It explains a lot, actually.” Derek raised his eyebrows in question. “Your reaction when I asked about dating last year. And how Laura is constantly trying to convince you that you’re a good brother and beta… and how you never seem to believe her. Things like that.”

Derek looked down at his hands. “I was in therapy in New York for years, and I found someone here too. The therapy helps.” Derek shook his head before glancing back up, “Don’t tell the rest of the pack?”

“Of course.”

They were silent for a minute before Derek looked up at Stiles again, “Does this change--”

Stiles interrupted Derek before he could finish, “Don’t you even ask if this changes how I feel about you.” Stiles rolled his chair towards Derek until he could hold his hands. “Don’t even ask that.”

Derek smiled faintly as he looked down at their joined hands. After another minute he spoke up again, “Laura wants to go talk to the Argents tomorrow. She wants you to go with her.”

“As the pack Emissary?” Stiles said, sitting up straighter but still holding onto Derek’s hands.

Derek nodded and smiled slightly. “As the official Emissary, but also as back-up.”

“What about the rest of the pack?”

“We’re going to scatter. I’m going to be coordinating to make sure that no one is in the same place as anyone else, and that everyone is on high alert. We didn’t go into any detail about… our particular history with the Argents, but everyone understands who they are as hunters now.” Derek paused again, looking down at their hands. “Word is that Allison’s dad, Chris Argent, is the most reasonable one of his family, and as far as we know he wasn’t at all involved in what Kate did to our family. And we haven’t broken their code once since we came here, so they have no grounds to be upset with us.”

Stiles nodded before rising and starting to pace. “Hey, do you think Allison knows? She’s been close to all of us, let alone Isaac, for almost two years now, basically the whole time he’s been in the pack. I know they never dated before, but they still hang out pretty regularly, and even when she was with Scott, he still did pack things.”

Derek shrugged, leaning back to watch Stiles pace. “I don’t know. I guess there’s a chance she doesn’t. I don’t really know how young they start their kids in the family business.”

“Are you going to be okay tomorrow?” Stiles stopped to turn and look at Derek.

Derek sighed. “I’ll be fine enough. It’s not going to be an easy day for me, but at least it's not Kate. I can hold it together for the day.”

“Plus, I’ll be there to protect Laura,” Stiles said, stepping closer to Derek.

Derek rose and took a step towards Stiles so they were only half a step away from each other. “She’s not the only one I worry about,” Derek said softly.

“Derek,” Stiles breathed out, swaying forward as if pulled by a magnet. He replayed that conversation with Derek from the summer almost every night. The feeling of being pushed up against the kitchen wall, of being pinned by Derek’s arms, of holding his hands as they spoke, all of those were being constantly replayed in his mind, even though since then the two of them had made sure to maintain a normal distance from each other as much as possible. They still hugged like normal for the pack, but they always made sure to keep the hugs short and they didn’t do any more than that, other than the embrace earlier today. Most of the time, they both seemed fine with their arrangement, but every once in a while it was an obvious challenge.

Derek lifted his hand slowly towards Stiles’ face and when it was just a hair’s breadth away, Derek turned and groaned. “Your dad is pulling into the driveway. I shouldn’t…” Derek grinned ruefully, “you know.”

Stiles shivered and shook his arms out, “I do, I do, I do.” Stiles made a shooing gesture, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, and I’ll come over after it’s all done.”

*

Laura knocked on the Argents door at two the next afternoon, since it was a Saturday and neither of them had work. Isaac felt bad about getting the info out of Allison, but she mentioned that she didn’t want to sit home all day with her parents. Isaac suggested they go for a hike and Allison had gladly agreed.

Chris Argent opened the door, looked at Laura and Stiles for a moment silently before saying, “I wondered when we would talk. Here, come on in.” He gestured for them to follow him into the kitchen. “Have a seat,” he said, gesturing at the kitchen table. “I’ll go find Victoria.”

Laura and Stiles settled onto chairs and Laura leaned in to Stiles, “We’re protected?”

“Yep,” Stiles said quietly. “Although we only have enough air for a couple minutes with this particular ward, so I’ll need to drop it soon. But I can keep putting up new ones all afternoon if I need to.”

“Or you could switch to one of the lesser wards,” Laura suggested.

Stiles shook his head, “Most of them would only stop a person from coming in. This is the only one that can stop projectiles.”

Stiles heard muffled sounds and turned towards Laura. “Chris doesn’t want his wife to bring a weapon,” Laura explained. “She wants to carry one visibly when they come in.”

“That just means that he has hidden ones in the room already,” Stiles guessed.

Laura nodded. “Probably. She wants the show of force, though.”

“Don’t they know that you can hear them?”

Laura shrugged. “I don’t know how accurate all of their information is about my kind. Can you sense their other guns?”

Stiles closed his eyes and reached out his magic to feel for the signature metal that made up guns. “I think so, but all the normal metal in the kitchen stuff could be throwing me off. Plus, they’ve got a whole ton of knives, which, again, could be totally normal in a kitchen.”

Laura nodded and grinned, “You think you can wait to disarm them, until they’re actually in the room?”

Stiles grinned, and he knew that it was definitely coming across more mischievously than would normally be comforting.

Allison’s parents walked into the kitchen and Stiles fixed his face quickly, dropping the ward when he saw that they had chosen to enter without guns drawn. Laura remained sitting, so Stiles followed her lead.

Victoria came towards them and pulled a chair out before sitting across from Laura. They nodded at each other, although neither spoke. Victoria shifted and pulled her gun out and placed it on the table, “The safety is-”

Stiles interrupted her by reaching his hand and pulling the gun towards him, even though it was at least three or four feet away from his extended arm. The small pull on his spark had the gun gliding smoothly across the table. Stiles picked up the gun and quickly unloaded and disassembled it before pushing part of the gun back towards Victoria. He kept the clip on the table in front of him.

Chris had moved to a cabinet and pulled a gun out as Stiles picked up Victoria’s gun, and as he disassembled the gun with his hands, Stiles used his spark to pull the gun in Chris’ hands apart as well. He focused and heard the metallic sounds of the four other guns he could sense as they also fell apart in the various hiding places around the room. He had never disarmed a gun with only his Spark before, but he was incredibly glad to see that muscle memory applied to that as well.

“I don’t think we need any of that, now do we?” Stiles asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

“You see, after what happened to our family, we took some precautions,” Laura says with a small smile.

Chris put down the pieces of his now useless gun and moved forward and sat across from Stiles. “Yes, that was a tragic accident, but I don’t see why this druid--”

“Accident?” Stiles scoffed.

Chris scowled. “You aren’t accusing us of starting a house fire that killed innocent children, are you?”

“Not you,” Laura replied, “but we know that your sister did it.”

“She wouldn’t have,” he protested. “She knows the code.”

“Hmm,” Stiles answered, “and how does the code feel about grown women raping teenagers? Because I certainly know how the State of California feels about that.” Laura glanced at Stiles. Apparently Derek hadn’t told her how much Stiles figured out about what happened. Stiles nodded grimly and she returned the nod.

Allison’s parents shot each other quick looks. “You both seem to have a lot of information that we don’t.”

“Seven years ago, your sister was living in Beacon Hills, right?” Laura asked.

“She was taking continuing education classes at BHCC while surveying the area,” Chris answered. “We were living in Portland at the time.”

Laura nodded. “She seduced my brother, Derek, who was 16 at the time.” Allison’s parents exchanged looks again. “She was twenty-nine, right?”

Chris winced and nodded.

“With such a large age gap, no court in the state would view that as anything other statutory rape.” Stiles said rising from his chair and standing behind Laura, “Derek was unable to consent simply because of his age. And then the fact that Kate used the knowledge she gained from Derek to scope out the family’s home to line the house with mountain ash before setting it on fire… well, courts would have a harder time with that, but police were always confused about how nobody in the family was able to escape, even though none of the doors were locked.” Stiles paced as he spoke, only glancing occasionally at Chris or Victoria. He trusted Laura to watch their reactions.

“You’ve been living in Beacon Hills for almost two years now,” Laura said. “As have we. During that time, there have been no major problems.”

“We came because we heard rumors of an omega,” Chris said, “but evidence of it disappeared almost as soon as we came.” He shrugged, “I honestly figured that you handled it, which is part of why I didn’t approach you initially.”

“And then after that?” Laura inquired.

“We’ve had an eye on you,” Victoria said, taking her eyes off Stiles for the first time since he got up. “We suspected that you were growing your pack with recruits from the college, although we knew that Stiles here spent time with you. He exhibited no signs of being bitten though, so the code dictated that we couldn’t do anything.”

“Because, regardless of what my sister may or may not have done, we follow the code firmly,” Chris said.

Laura nodded. “You know that your daughter just started dating Isaac, one of my betas?”

Chris nodded even though Victoria’s expression had frozen.

“I’m here because I want to make sure that my pack is happy, but most of all safe. I’m sure that you feel the same way about Allison.”

“Does Isaac have control over his shift?” Chris asked.

“Complete,” Laura responded with confidence. “He was the first beta I changed when we came back here, so he has had two years to work on his control.”

“And how many people have you changed since then?” Chris inquired.

Laura grinned, although there was nothing happy in the expression, “I don’t believe that I owe you that information. Please understand, however, that every person who joined the pack did it with full awareness and consent about what they were doing. And aside from one case, the decision was made with the consideration of their families.”

“And the druid?” Victoria asked, eyes glued to Stiles as he paced again.

“Not a druid,” Stiles said with a toothy grin.

“A Spark?” Chris asked with eyes wide. Stiles waved his fingers at Chris, making small red sparks float around his fingertips. “I understand some of your confidence now,” Chris said, looking again at Laura. She grinned slightly and shrugged.

“What is it that you’re seeking, exactly?” Victoria asked. “Permission for your beta to date Allison?”

Laura shook her head. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a matter of your permission. Allison is 18 and can choose who to date. She’s known Isaac for two years now and they share several friends in common, so it’s not like she’s making a rash decision.”

“We’re looking to establish an alliance,” Stiles said. “In which you promise to follow your code and approach us first with questions instead of violence if you suspect us of doing something that goes against your code.”

“And what would you promise in return?” Chris asked.

“To maintain order amongst the supernatural community in Beacon Hills,” Laura responded. “Without using violence as our first move.”

“And we promise not to seek either legal redress or vengeance for what your family did to the Hale family,” Stiles added.

Chris and Victoria’s eyes both widened as Stiles spoke. It seemed that they hadn’t exactly considered that potential possibility. “Vengeance?” Chris asked. His voice was soft, but there was a definite steel underneath it.

Stiles shook his head as he continued pacing. “I don’t have the specifics on your code,” Stiles said, pointing at Chris, “but I’ve been told it has something to do with maintaining safety or hunting beasts--”

“We hunt those who hunt us,” Chris interrupted.

Stiles stopped to stare at Chris for a moment. “Wait. Really?” He laughed, “Really?” Stiles turned to Laura, “God they’re lucky we don’t follow the same code.”

“You think you have a better one?” Victoria asked archly.

“How about ‘Live and let live’?” Stiles asked, “Or maybe ‘do no harm,’ or even,” Stiles turned and made eye contact with Laura, “‘We may be predators but we’re not killers.’” Laura grinned widely at him before Stiles turned to look back at Victoria, “But whatever our code is, you should be grateful it’s not the same as yours, because you have hunted us, so by your code, it would be within our right to hunt you back.”

“But we didn’t kill the Hale pack,” Chris pointed out.

“But your sister did,” Laura countered. “And there were children in that house. And humans. Let alone every werewolf in that house was a good person.”

“So we would have every reason to retaliate,” Stiles said.

“But you’re not even one of them,” Victoria said, looking at Stiles. “You’re a Spark, not a werewolf.”

Stiles nods “I am. And the wonderful thing about the world we live in is that people get to make choices. I made a choice years ago to trust my instincts, and that led me to Laura. Since then, I’ve gained more than I ever thought was possible.” Stiles stopped next to Laura and put his hand on her shoulder. “We’re asking you to make a choice too.”

“Will you give us time to discuss it?” Chris asked.

“Of course,” Laura responded.

“We’ll get back to you in a week, then.” Chris stood up and held his hand out to Laura, “While we’re thinking about it, I promise that we won’t cause any harm to Isaac or the rest of your pack.”

“What if Allison wants to break up with Isaac?” Victoria asked, still seated.

Stiles shrugged. “I’m sure Isaac will be upset.”

“But he won’t lose control? He won’t try to stop her?” Chris and Victoria exchanged glances. “I’m perfectly willing to consider and discuss it,” she said to her husband archly, “but my main priority right now needs to be Allison’s safety. I can’t think about future alliances if Allison isn’t safe today.”

Stiles stepped forward slightly. “Isaac is honestly amazing. We don’t owe you his life story, but he has experienced abuse before. That has made him particularly sensitive to other people, and I know he would never treat Allison poorly.”

“Thank you,” Chris says, rising up from his chair.

“One last thing,” Laura said, still sitting. “If we’re to be allies, you can’t intentionally turn Allison against Isaac by making her think he’s a monster.”

“We can’t tell her the truth?” Victoria asked sharply.

Laura sighed. “She knows Isaac. She knows most of our pack too, although she doesn’t realize what we are exactly. If you try to convince her that some of her closest friends are actually monsters, how do you think she’ll take it?”

*

Stiles walked by the office on his way to the bathroom and froze. Chris Argent was leaning against the counter and grinned the moment he made eye contact with Stiles. He turned back to the secretary and said something before picking up a folder and coming out into the hallway.

“Stiles, I’m so glad to see you,” Chris said with a grin. “I have something for Allison, but she must be out at lunch now. I can’t hang around for too long to wait for her, but could you give this to her?”

Stiles squinted at Chris for a moment before holding out his hand. “Sure. Lucky coincidence we have a class together next period.”

Chris nodded. “Convenient,” he said with a smirk. “But also, Stiles, I wanted to let you know, now that you’re alone, that you don’t have to feel trapped or obligated to Laura. There are other options out there for you.”

Stiles barked out a laugh, “Chris, with all due respect, fuck off. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Chris’ eyebrows shot up so Stiles continued talking. “You think I’m trapped here? That I don’t have options? What, that they’re preventing me from realizing all of my potential?” Chris was silent so Stiles scoffed. “I applied to Stanford for Early Action already, which has been my dream school forever, with the full blessing of the pack. And since I have a 4.3 GPA, consistent extra curriculars, a part-time job, a kick-ass essay, if I do say so myself, and stellar recommendations from several different people, I’m feeling pretty good about it.”

“Alright, that all sounds impressive,” Chris conceded. “But have you considered how your father would feel about all of this? Running with werewolves is dangerous and--”

Stiles was laughing again, “Dude, my dad has known for a while now. Maybe you should give him a call. He can help clear up some of these misconceptions you seem to have. Anyway, I need to get back to class.”

Stiles refused to look back, but he was pretty sure that Chris watched him the whole way down the hallway. When he stepped into the bathroom, he finally satisfied his curiosity and opened the folder he was supposed to give to Allison.

It was empty.

*

“Hi Isaac.”

Isaac forced himself not to jump, even though the voice came from behind him as he stepped out of the campus library. He turned as he saw Allison’s dad standing against the wall with his arms crossed. “Hi, Mr. Argent.”

“Call me Chris,” he said as he pushed off from the wall and stepped up next to Isaac. “Let’s walk. Where are you headed?”

“My public speaking class,” Isaac said pointing off at one of the buildings down the block.

“I’ll walk with you. I wouldn’t want you to be late.”

Isaac smiled, even though he knew his eyes were wider than he would like them to be. He had spoken to Allison’s dad before, but hadn’t seen him since they started dating, and now they both knew that he was a werewolf, while Chris was a hunter.

“Uh… thanks.”

“So, Isaac, I just wanted to talk for a minute.”

“Sure thing.”

Chris laughed and patted Isaac on the back. “I’m not here to make threats. I think we’re beyond that, right?” Isaac shrugged. “I know what you are and you know what I am, so we can skip that part. You know how important Allison is to me, and you know what Victoria and I would do to anyone who hurt her.”

“Yes, sir.”

Chris put a hand on Isaac’s arm to stop him, and Isaac turned to face him. He had an inch or two on Chris, but the older man didn’t seem at all intimidated. “But I’m still worried about you, son. I know you were 18 when you took the bite, but that’s still young, and teenagers do make rash decisions. Are you… do you regret your decision?”

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Do you know my dad?” Chris blinked and shook his head. Isaac nodded before continuing. “My mom died when I was four. I hardly remember her, but my dad never really recovered from her loss. Then when I was eleven, my older brother was killed in Afghanistan. My dad blames himself, and is disappointed that I’m the son that he still has left. No, no, don’t try to deny it. He says it on a regular basis.” Isaac turned and started walking again and Chris kept up with him. “My father was abusive, but he made sure never to leave a mark on me. He would lock me in a spare freezer, in the basement, for hours sometimes. I still can’t stand to be in small spaces, even knowing that I’d be able to break out of most places now.” Isaac looked down at his hand and made a fist. “When Laura offered me a chance to have a new family, I wanted to jump at it instantly, but I was still scared.”

“What made you decide to do it?”

“Stiles told me I could walk away and no one would try to stop me,” Isaac said with a laugh. “He even said he’d even use his magic to help me leave, if I wanted to.”

“Stiles giving you an out is what convinced you to do it?” Chris asked skeptically.

Isaac shook his head, “No, Stiles reminding me that I had a choice is what convinced me that I was making the right one.”

Chris stopped and stared down at the ground for a minute. Isaac just watched him silently, ignoring the people who walked around them on the wide sidewalk. Chris looked up, “Isaac, I’m sorry. I don’t want to keep you any longer. I’ll be seeing you around. Thanks for talking to me today.”

“You’re welcome Mr. Argent,” Isaac replied. He watched as Chris walked back toward the library, then he pulled his phone out. “ _Chris Argent just met me outside of the library_ ,” Isaac texted to the pack group text. “ _He made some vague threats, but mostly wanted to know why I chose the bite._ ”

*

Laura rubbed her forehead that evening, with the entire pack sitting on various pieces of furniture in the living room of her house. “He hasn’t done anything threatening, and we agreed to give him time to think about the alliance, but I don’t like that he’s approaching people individually.”

Isaac glanced over at Stiles, “But you could always put a ward around someone, right? To protect them?”

“Well, yea,” Stiles agreed. “Probably. But the further away you are, the more it drains my magic. And also I’ve never actually done one before without seeing where I was doing it.”

Isaac nodded and stepped into the other room. “Try to put a ward around me,” he said loudly.

Stiles winced, but closed his eyes, feeling for Isaac’s bond. It was harder, with the whole pack here, to sort through the different golds, but he figured which one was Isaac after a minute. He tried to focus on Isaac, the source of the gold thread, but he couldn’t latch on to the exact location, to a center to base the ward around. He sighed and opened his eyes. “I just can’t focus enough. I can feel him, but there isn’t enough for me to latch on to his location and place the ward around.”

“What if you had something to help you focus?” Derek asked quietly from where he was leaning against the archway into the kitchen. “Remember a couple weeks ago when Araceli mentioned something about talismans?”

Stiles jumped up with a grin and shouted, “Nobody go home yet!” He ran to his car and sped off, while everyone else glanced around.

“What was that about?” Scott asked Derek.

He shrugged, “We’ll see.”

Stiles ran back into the house in less than fifteen minutes with his backpack. He started taking small things out of it and putting them on the dining room table. Everyone slowly came to watch what he was doing since he had been muttering since he walked in.

“So you know how we’ve been practicing communicating through our bonds?” Stiles asked once everyone was in the room. There were general nods from everyone around him. “So I’m about 90% positive that I can create a ward around each of you, using a focal point or a talisman, even if you’re on the other side of town from me, that won’t drain me too quickly.” He looked up at Isaac and handed him a small plastic Captain America ring. “Let’s try this again. Take this and go run like… a mile? Then poke at the bond and I’ll see if it works.”

“Did this come from a goodie bag?” Isaac asked with a smirk as he took the ring and slipped it onto his pinky finger.

Stiles grinned, “Yea. Scott’s ninth birthday.”

Isaac turned and ran into the woods. Erica, Boyd, and James wandered into the kitchen and got drinks and snacks. After a few minutes, Stiles felt the poke come through Isaac’s bond. He focused on the connection between the two of them and felt the ring that he had infused a piece of his magic into. Using the ring as a booster, he put a ward around Isaac. He felt relatively sure that it had worked, but he couldn’t sense the ward the way he normally would if it were close to him.

Half a minute later, his phone rang. “Hey Isaac.”

“So it worked,” Isaac started, “but can I move? What’s the point of being protected if I just end up trapped?”

Stiles laughed and punched the air. “No, you should be able to walk. Have you tried that yet?”

“Oh, oh yea, okay, it is working,” Isaac answered.

“The ring is basically the center,” Stiles explained, “and as long as it’s on you, the ward will move with you.”

“How close is it to me?” Isaac asked, “And is this one of your no-breathing wards?”

“Nah - I wouldn’t stick a werewolf inside one of those without an exit strategy,” Stiles answered with a laugh, “this is just one of the ones that will prevent anyone from coming in or out. You can still be shot, but nobody can sneak up on your or kidnap you or anything. I could change the ward though, I think, to one of the bullet-proof ones. Are you coming back?”

Isaac hung up and Stiles was about to say something snarky when the back door opened. Isaac was standing just inside the door grinning like a madman. “Hey any chance I could like, play bumper cars right now?” He stepped forward and bumped into Scott with the ward, even though he was still about two feet away.

“Dude!” Scott gasped out, laughing as he tried to shove at Isaac’s ward.

Stiles waved and dropped the ward. “Alright that worked,” he said with a sigh of relief.

“How did it feel?” Laura asked. She had remained silent through Stiles’ whole experiment, but had been standing nearby the whole time.

“More draining than when the ward is around me,” Stiles answered honestly. Then he turned back to the rest of the pack, “So please don’t play with these. It’s just like the lumos balls. The further away my magic goes, the quicker it drains me. Please only use them in case of emergency.”

Everyone nodded and then Stiles handed one of his trinkets to each person. Erica got a small Catwoman figurine, Cynthia got a donut, James a mini fidget spinner, Boyd a Spiderman figurine, and Scott got a small clay dog that they made together in fifth grade. Stiles turned to Laura and Derek last. “I know that you’re probably most able to defend yourselves, but I think you’re probably also the most likely targets if Chris wants to actually hurt the pack. Here.” Stiles held out a small Chase figurine from Paw Patrol to Laura, who laughed at the small police dog. Then he held out a metal Superman crest that was about the size of his palm to Derek.

“Stiles?” Scott asked quietly.

“Hush,” Stiles said, not looking at Scott. He watched as Derek took the small metal S and turned it over. His eyes flew up to Stiles once he read the short message on the back. _To my little Superman. I love you. Mom_. “It has to be something I feel a connection to in order for my magic to stick to it,” Stiles explained quietly.

Derek nodded at Stiles, his eyes wide, as he slipped the medallion into his pocket.

*

Chris answered the front door with a mug of coffee in his hand. “Officers?”

Laura nodded to her partner, “We received a call. The report said it sounded like someone was in distress. Can I ask you to step outside?” Chris shook his head and grinned ruefully as he walked out onto the porch.

“Is anyone else in the house?” Laura’s partner, Deputy Jimenez, asked.

“Actually no one is home now. My wife Victoria is out shopping and my daughter is at school. But you’re certainly welcome to take a look if you’d like.”

Laura nodded to Jimenez, who nodded and went into the house to look around.

“Abusing your position to check up on me?” Chris asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

Laura shook her head. “There was really a call. It was anonymous, so we don’t know who placed it.” She shrugged. “It was just a coincidence that I wanted to talk to you.”

Chris took another sip of his coffee and waited. After a moment of the two of them looking at each other, Chris asked, “Was there something you wanted to ask, Deputy?”

Laura shrugged, “Are you planning to interview my whole pack, or just the people you feel most affected by?”

“Well, if you’d give me a list of your members, I’d happily speak to them all,” Chris answered.

Laura smiled brightly, even though the grin did not reach her eyes. “And I already told you that won’t be happening.”

“Then I guess I’ll just have to poke around a bit,” Chris said with a shrug. “I’m genuinely not trying to be threatening, but I want to know what I’m agreeing to before I agree to it.”

Laura nodded, squinting at him. “You’ll have to forgive me for being suspicious.”

Chris chuckled, “Just like you’ll have to forgive me for being cautious.” They stood in silence for a moment while Jimenez surveyed the house. “I really don’t mean any of them harm, by the way. I just needed to see how you work, from multiple perspectives.”

*

Chris walked into the vet clinic carrying a few pieces of paper. Scott froze when he looked up from the reception desk and plastered a smile on his face.

“Hi Chris. Are you here for vet business or to talk with me?”

Chris grinned as he held up the papers. “I wanted to know if I could hang up this notice on the board.”

Scott reached for it and Chris handed it over without a problem. “I think it should be fine,” Scott answered, “but Dr. Deaton needs to approve it. He’s in a surgery right now, but if you leave it with me, I’ll have him look at it later and if he says yes I’ll hang it up for you.”

“Perfect,” Chris said, leaning forward onto the counter. “Has Laura offered you the bite?”

Scott blinked in surprise a few times before smiling again. “Not officially, but I think if I asked for it, Laura would give it to me.”

“Do you want it?”

Scott shrugged. “I’m planning to go away to college, and I’d like to become a vet, so that’ll take me a couple years. Deaton said he might be interested in selling his practice to me eventually, because I told him that I want to move back here when I’m done, and there’s only the two practices here in Beacon Hills, but I think I would definitely want to work with him for a few years before I’d have the confidence to run it on my own. I would still be in my 20s at that point… so maybe I’ll ask for the bite then?” Scott shrugged again. “I’m not in a rush, and neither is Laura. I know I’m part of the pack whether I’m human or not.”

*

Derek was humming along to the pop song playing on the gas station radio as he filled up his tank. There was a mom with a minivan behind him and she was making faces at her toddlers as she filled her tank. He kept glancing at her and couldn’t help but smile at her antics. She noticed him watching her and blushed, but he had grinned widely and gave a small wave.

A pick-up truck pulled in and parked on the other side of the terminal he was using. Derek glanced over, wrinkling his nose at the smell of gunpowder on the truck. It was faint, and not totally uncommon in this area, but he still didn’t like it.

The mother finished, gave a little wave to Derek, got in her car and drove away. Derek glanced up and saw Chris Argent watching him. Derek froze, every muscle in his body screaming for him to do something, whether it was growl, attack, or run away, he wasn’t sure, but it wanted to do something.

“Derek,” Chris said. “I want to apologize.”

Derek let out an exhale he hadn’t been fully aware that he was holding. He hadn’t been expecting that. He’d been expecting veiled threats, or even probing questions. Not an immediate apology.

“I still don’t have any concrete details - I wasn’t going to ask Kate directly. I didn’t tell her that you’re back or that we’re signing a treaty. But if half of what Laura and Stiles said is true, I can’t live with myself if I don’t apologize and try to make things better.” Derek stared, speechless. Chris shook his head and continued speaking, “I don’t know if you and Laura will ever trust us, but Victoria and I have always stuck closely to the code. I can honestly say that I’ve never hurt or killed anyone who wasn’t actively trying to kill me first. If Kate took a crew to kill your entire family,” Chris shook his head again, “that’s unconscionable. If she… if she took advantage of you…” Chris waved his hands around vaguely as if searching for the right words.

Derek took a few steps forward and held out his hand. Chris took it and they shook hands before Derek stepped back. “Kate fucked me up,” Derek said simply. “For a long time. I don’t honestly know if I’ll ever be free of the damage she caused, but I am finally in a good place again.”

*

Boyd bumped Erica’s knee with his when he realized Chris Argent was walking toward the table they were eating lunch at on the quad. He smiled at them and then sat down at the table across from them.

Erica growled at him and Boyd placed his hand over hers. She quieted.

“You want to ask us questions?” Boyd said quietly.

Chris nodded, still surveying both of them.

“Are you happy?”

“Fuck you and your presumptuous questions,” Erica spat out. “We are happy. But you know what? Even if we weren’t happy, even if we regretted our choices, even if we were miserable, that still wouldn’t be any of your business.”

Chris’ eyebrows raised. “Oh?”

“Yea,” Erica said. “Because you’re not going up to any other people here, asking personal questions about their lives. You’re not going to go murder any of them if they’ve got manipulative friends, are you? If they feel trapped in their lives? Are you going to go around and play the white knight in anyone else’s life? Or just in ours because you feel fucking superior to us?”

“That’s not what I’m--”

Erica interrupted him, “It isn’t? Because as far as I understand it, if you think that Laura manipulated us or is abusive or whatever, then you’ll want to kill her, right?” Chris didn’t respond, but he didn’t refute her claim either. “That’s what I thought,” Erica said, leaning back. “And also, if you think that any of us have been manipulated or abused or whatever, then you might think that we don’t have control over the ‘monster’ inside us,” she used her fingers to make sarcastic air quotes, “and then we’ll need to be murdered too, right?”

“Except he wouldn’t think of it as murder,” Boyd said quietly. “I’m sure they rationalize it as putting down a rabid beast, or something like that.”

“Yea, like, you’re actually doing the world a favor by getting rid of a dangerous monster.”

Boyd leaned across the table. “How are we doing so far?”

Chris gave a one-shouldered shrug. “We don’t think of it as murder. We don’t ever want to kill people…” He trailed off before looking back up at the two of them. “But we do consider it our duty to eliminate threats--”

“Put down a rabid beast,” Erica finished with a smirk.

Chris smiled faintly, “But you’re wrong about one thing… at least. We wouldn’t kill any of you if you were simply manipulated or abused. We require evidence of violence before we move.”

“Mmmm, that’s a comfort,” Erica said wryly. “You know, you being the one to decide whether or not we’re violent, and whether or not we deserve to live or not.”

“Well, judge, jury, and executioner, are you satisfied enough?” Boyd asked. “We might be snarky assholes, but we’ve been in control of our shifts for over a year now. We like our lives. We love Laura and the rest of the pack. We’re no more a threat to anyone else than we were when we were still human.”

“Honestly we’re probably less of a threat now, since we can’t get drunk,” Erica said solemnly, and Boyd shot her a small grin. At Chris’ look of confusion, Erica explained. “We can’t drive drunk. We’re basically the automatic designated drivers. Look at us,” she said, glancing at Boyd and smiling widely, “we’re like drunken nighttime superheroes since we keep drunks off the road.”

Chris was smiling faintly at them. “Well, the two of you are definitely not what I was expecting,” he said after a moment. “Laura really did pick an interesting group of people, huh?”

*

John was sitting at his desk when one of the deputies said, “Sir? There’s a Chris Argent here who says you’re expecting him?”

John sighed, “Sure, Sean. Send him in.”

The deputy nodded and gestured for Chris to come in, “You can close the door behind you. We might as well have some privacy for this conversation.”

Chris hesitated, but then closed the door slowly. “Were you actually expecting me?”

John nodded. “Stiles said you were visiting the pack, and that you started with him. I’m actually surprised it took so long to make it here.” He gestured at the seat across from him.

Chris nodded and sat. “Thank you. I wanted to talk to the kids first, before coming to see you.”

John chuckled. “Well? Are you satisfied?”

“You son seems very confident,” Chris answered.

John leaned back. “Do you want to see something?” Chris nodded and John pulled out his phone. “Look at this,” he said, holding his phone up. “Stiles designed this app special for each of the humans in the pack. It has one function. When I press it like this, he can create a ward around me from anywhere in Beacon Hills, although he thinks that he can reach further for those of us that he has a closer connection to. We haven’t tested his range on these types of wards yet.” Chris’ eyebrows went up. “Here, try to come closer.”

Chris leaned forward and reached his hand out, tracing it along the invisible bubble that was encasing John. Chris nodded, then leaned over and picked up one of the pens from John’s desk and tossed it gently at him. When he saw the pen travel through the ward, his eyebrows shot up again. “So I can’t come to you to drug you or grab you or anything, but I still have a gun.”

John chuckled, “Yes, but so do I.” He pressed the button on the app again and then his phone rang almost instantly. “Hey Stiles. Yea I’m fine. We just did a demonstration for Chris Argent.” John laughed at something Stiles said, “Yea, he tossed a pen at me.” Another laugh. “Nah, I think we’re going to go get lunch. Fine, I’ll get a side salad. Happy? Love you too.” After hanging up, John stood up. “Come on, we can keep talking over lunch.”

Chris grinned and he stood.

*

Chris and Victoria showed up at the Hale house at noon that Saturday.

Laura invited them to the house. “We’re about to have a bbq since the weather is actually still nice, if you’d like to meet the whole pack,” she offered.

They agreed hesitantly.

“I didn’t realize I missed so many people,” Chris murmured to Laura as they stepped onto the back patio.

Erica’s whole family was there, as well John, and Scott’s mom. “They aren’t all weres,” Laura said fondly. “The only ones you really missed were Cynthia and James, Erica’s mom and older brother.”

“You bit them?” Victoria asks, gesturing towards Cynthia and James. “Wasn’t that risky?”

Laura shrugged. “A little, but we discussed the risks beforehand, and they had the support of their family.”

“Plus, I felt like the risk was worth it,” Cynthia said, coming up to them. “I already had really bad arthritis, and last year I had a suspicious lump removed from my breast. I lost my mother and two of my sisters to breast cancer. Laura said that there was no guarantee that it would work, but I had no guarantee that the cancer wouldn’t come back either.”

“Did you tell them about us?” Chris asked.

“We did, actually,” Derek answered, bringing out a few platters of food. “We promised that you’re not all psychopaths, and that my parents had managed to peacefully interact with several groups of hunters before Kate came along.”

“Thanks,” Chris said dryly.

John came over with a couple beers. “Victoria, would you like a beer too? If not we’ve got wine over on the table there.”

“I’d prefer wine, thank you,” Victoria said, and then followed Cynthia to get a glass.

Chris took the beer and looked around after taking a sip. “You don’t mind the alcohol here?” He asked John.

John shrugged as he took another sip. “Laura knows better than to give the underage kids any, and honestly, most of the people here are over 21. Do you keep wine or beer in the house? Do you trust Allison in the kitchen by herself?”

Stiles chose that moment to pop up next to the Sheriff, “Hey daddy-o,” he said with a wide grin, “you wanna let me try a sip of that?”

John laughed and shoved at Stiles, causing him to stumble one step to the side. He laughed and stepped back towards his dad. “I figure he has to say yes one of these days,” Stiles said to Chris with a grin.

“Yea, on your 21st birthday,” John responded.

“You can have a sip of mine,” Derek said coming up behind Stiles.

Stiles perked up for a second before grumbling, “You’re just drinking seltzer. That doesn’t hold the same excitement as forbidden beer.” The group laughed at Stiles as Derek held out a fresh can of seltzer and offered it to Stiles. “Thanks,” Stiles said with a soft grin.


	19. Boogie woogie, woogie!

“Hey Laura?”

Laura looked up from the laundry she was folding on her bed. Allison had been hanging out with Isaac, but now she was standing in the doorway to Laura’s bedroom.

“What’s up Allie?”

“Isaac… Isaac came over last night and he and my dad… told me everything.” Allison blinked a few times as if still trying to process the information. “Can I… come in?”

“Of course!” Laura said, shifting a few piles of laundry so there was space to sit on the bed. “Do you have any questions?”

“Yea, like a thousand,” Allison laughed as she sat near the foot of Laura’s bed. “But I was thinking about it all night. At one point, my dad said that you asked my parents not to try to turn me against you. Apparently you said that I already knew and trusted all of you… and something like, how would I feel if they tried to convince me that all my friends were monsters, or something?” Laura nodded. “And I think you’re right. I mean, I do know and love you guys. All of you. It even all makes so much more sense now. I didn’t get at first why Isaac was living with you, since the whole family friend thing… seemed like it came out of the blue. But you’re pack… and that’s closer than friends.”

“It is,” Laura answered softly. “And you know you’re part of the pack too, right?”

Allison smiled. “Isaac said I was. He said I was part all on my own, too, not just as his girlfriend.”

“You are,” Laura agreed. “I know at first we met you through Scott, but you’ve been friends with the rest of the pack for years now, so you’re pack too, as long as you want to be.”

“I do,” Allison agreed. “But… I can stay human, right? I don’t think my parents would be okay with me… changing.”

Laura laughed, “Your parents have been much more accepting than I ever thought they would be, honestly, but you’re probably right. I don’t know that they’d be able to change their perspective on us enough to be happy if you took the bite. And you don’t ever need to. Look at Scott and Marco, Erica’s dad. They’re both human, and as much a part of the pack as anyone else.”

“And Stiles really has magic?”

“You should ask him to show off sometime,” Laura said with a grin. “He gets excited since he doesn’t have the opportunity to showcase his talents to new people very often.”

*

“Wait… so you and Allison used to date?” Kira asked, confusion written all over her face.

“Yea, but it’s not weird, I promise,” Allison said as she sat on the couch across from Scott and Kira. “Isaac and I are dating now.”

“But isn’t it… how is it not weird for you guys?” Kira looked between Scott, Isaac, and Allison.

“I don’t know,” Allison laughed. “Plus, Isaac and Stiles used to date, and that’s not weird either.”

“What?”

“Oh yea,” Isaac said with a laugh as he reached an arm across Allison’s shoulders, “I almost forgot about that.”

“Hey!” Stiles threw a pillow at Isaac.

Allison swatted it out of the way before it could make it near Isaac. “Thanks, babe,” he said with a grin, leaning down to kiss her lightly before smiling back at the room.

“You guys are all kind of weird, aren’t you?” Kira asked with a dawning grin.

Scott laughed, “You have no idea.”

The front door opened and Derek stepped in, looked at the group sitting on the couches and did a double take when he saw Kira.

“Derek!” Stiles said, jumping up, “Let me help you bring in the groceries.”

Derek blinked a few times and nodded, turning around and going back outside. Once they got to Derek’s car, Stiles reached into the trunk and pulled out groceries. “We’re trying to get Kira used to the pack,” Stiles said softly. “Laura agreed that would be a good transition, because even if she and Scott break up, she’s going to manifest her powers eventually, and since she's part of the supernatural community, she's part of our responsibility. Noshiko acknowledged that introducing her to the pack could be good for her.” Stiles laughed suddenly and kicked gently at Derek’s shoe. “Dude you need to put, like, half of that back since you’re supposed to act human in front of Kira, remember?”

Derek glanced down at what he was holding and then grinned while putting a few bags back in the trunk. When he turned back around, Derek realized that Stiles was standing close beside him watching him with a small smile.

“Six more months?” Derek asked softly, shooting Stiles a sideways glance as he brushed past him to walk toward the house.

Stiles stumbled and almost dropped the bag of bananas and eggs he was cradling against his chest, but Derek’s wide smile at his reaction was entirely worth it.

*

“Stiles isn’t that your old tutor?” Danny asked, bumping Stiles in the ribs with his elbow.

Stiles glanced up and makes eye contact with Derek across the library. He was standing near the circulation desk talking with Mr. Yukimura. “Yea,” he said, grinning slowly. “That’s Derek. I wonder what he’s doing here. Maybe he interviewed for a job with Mr. Yukimura?"

Just then Lydia and Jackson came over to their table and sat down. “Don’t look now but there’s an absolutely gorgeous new substitute teacher. I heard he’s covering the Spanish 1 and 2 classes for the rest of the week apparently.”

Jackson grunted as he sat down next to Danny. “Can you tell her that he isn’t that hot?”

Danny smirked. “Nope. That guy is burning.” He glanced at Lydia, “And Stiles knows him.”

“What?” She asked, rounding on Stiles. “Tell me everything.”

Stiles laughed and held up his hands. “Relax. He’s a family friend. And he was my tutor for a while in sophomore and junior year.” Lydia glared at him expectantly. “Um… he’s certified to be a Global teacher, but he does speak Spanish pretty well, so I’m sure he’ll do a good job. But… uh… what do you want me to say? His whole life story?”

“Preferably,” Lydia said, turning to stare at him across the library. Allison walked into the library and stopped short when she saw Derek standing near the circulation desk. She waved at Stiles and his group and walked over to chat with Derek, who managed to grin and talk to her without the look of embarrassment that had been covering his face the whole time Stiles had been talking. “Wait Allison knows him too?”

“Yea,” Stiles responded, trying to do some fast mental gymnastics. “Her boyfriend Isaac is roommates with him.”

“Oh yea… I do remember her saying something about his dad kicking him out,” Lydia mused, turning to stare at Stiles. “Isn’t Isaac pan?” She asked after a couple minutes. “It isn’t weird that he lives with such a hot guy?”

Stiles shrugged. “He’s not into Derek, so no. I think he sees Derek as more of a big brother than a love interest anyway.”

*

The second time Jackson tripped Kira during the co-ed lacrosse game they were playing in gym class, Stiles stepped in front of him. “Dude, back off. It’s just a skirmish in gym class. Who fucking cares if she scored on you?”

“I do,” Jackson growled, pushing Stiles out of his way.

Kira looked at Stiles with wide eyes. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Stiles said, patting her shoulder. “Jackson is just an asshole, and you hurt his fragile ego by scoring a goal on him before.”

“So he tripped me on purpose?” She asked, her wide eyes turning angry. “What the hell?”

“Don’t worry about him,” Stiles said. “We’re halfway through class. I’m sure he’ll start bothering someone else soon.”

“That’s not fair,” Kira said, but then Coach Finstock blew his whistle, and they started playing again.

In the next few minutes, it became very clear that Jackson wasn’t planning on forgiving Kira, and after he knocked her down three more times, even Coach Finstock pulled him aside to yell at him.

While they were talking, Stiles came up behind Kira, “Hey are you alright? That last fall looked--” but he cut off speaking as soon as he touched her shoulder and felt an electrical shock run up his arm. He spun her around and realized that her eyes were glowing orange and she was practically hyperventilating as she stared at Jackson across the field.

“Kira, you’re okay.” Stiles said quickly and quietly. “You’re okay. I just need you to take some deep breaths, ok? You’re having a panic attack.”

The electrical sparks running up and down her arms started to grow, and Stiles looked over his shoulder frantically, hoping that no one was looking at them. He took a deep breath and pulled all the sparks into himself, trying to absorb all of the lightning that was coming out of her, hoping no one would notice. She continued breathing deeply for a few seconds, pouring electricity into him with each breath, before he said, “Kira, let’s go walk. I think that’ll help you.”

“But… I don’t have panic attacks,” she stammered once they had started walking.

He still had one hand on her upper arm and was basically dragging her away as he pulled out his phone. “Kira, babe, I promise this will make sense soon. Noshiko, it happened at school.”

“Why did you just call my mom?” Kira asked, her voice rising, and more electricity sparking along her skin and across Stiles’ hand.

Stiles winced as he continued to absorb the electricity before it could become bigger or more noticeable as it danced across Kira. “Kira, if you could stop electrocuting me, that would be amazing.”

“I’m doing that?” She asked, looking frantically at her arms.

Stiles glanced at her before looking over his shoulder. Half the class was watching them while Coach continued to yell at Jackson, so he started walking faster. “Yes, and we have to get away from everyone else just in case it gets worse.”

“Worse?” Kira squeaked.

They finally made it around the corner of the building and Stiles nearly let go of Kira in relief when he saw her mom standing a few feet away. “Oh thank god,” he gasped out. “Can I let go of her?”

“You’re containing her electricity?” Noshiko asked. Stiles nodded with a grimace. “You shouldn’t be able to do that.”

“Yea, well, we can talk about it later. What’s the plan now?”

“What are you guys talking about?” Kira asked worriedly. “I don’t understand. What is going on? How is this all happening?”

Noshiko stepped closer, “Kira, sweetheart, I need you to close your eyes for just a second and trust me, okay? It’s all going to make sense in a few seconds.” She turned to Stiles. “Can you work illusions?” He grimaced again and nodded. “Can you make one that looks like us, regular us, and doesn’t change for a few minutes. We’re a little more exposed here on the side of the building that I like.”

Stiles nodded and gritted his teeth. Draining the electricity from Kira was hurting him and taking more of his spark than he was happy about, but he should be able to hold an illusion for a few minutes. He closed his eyes and felt Noshiko step closer. She started whispering in Japanese in Kira’s ear as Stiles built the illusion around them.

“It’s done,” Stiles said quietly after a moment, opening his eyes again.

Noshiko nodded and stepped back slightly, although she still held onto Kira’s hand. “Kira, look at our true form,” she said as she closed her eyes. Stiles nearly stumbled back in confusion. Noshiko was somehow completely still herself, but at the same time there was also a flaming fox form standing within and around her. Stiles wasn’t sure how she was both at the same time, but when he glanced over at Kira he realized that her form reflected her mother’s.

“Stiles you can let go of Kira now,” Noshiko said softly and Stiles yanked his hand back in relief.

He looked down and saw that there were angry red burn marks streaking up his hand and arm in a lightning pattern. He blew on them softly before dropping his hand and shaking it gently. He wasn’t entirely sure when he had lost feeling in his hand, but he was pretty sure the burns were going to hurt once he got feeling back.

Noshiko eyed Stiles as she drew Kira towards her. Kira was sobbing softly, but embraced her mother tightly. “She’s going to be alright,” Noshiko said to Stiles. “Thank you for helping her through her awakening.”

Stiles nodded. “You’re welcome. Please let us know if there’s anything else the pack can do.”

“You should go see Deaton for those,” Noshiko said, looking at his hand again. “And call Laura too. She can help with the pain.”

“I don’t feel anything,” Stiles whispered, concern starting to grow.

Noshiko’s eyebrows rose. “Go to Deaton now. You said your father knows about us all, right? Will he call the school for you? I feel bad encouraging you to cut class, but you should get that looked at right away.”

“It’s fine,” Stiles said, waving his hand. “He’ll cover. Can you guys… put your fox selves away? I’m going to need to drop this illusion soon.”

“Of course,” Noshiko said, hiding hers instantly. She started whispering in Japanese again and Kira’s fiery fox self disappeared slowly. Once it was gone, Noshiko looked back up and nodded. “We’ll be in touch.”

Stiles nodded and pulled out his phone as he turned and walked toward the locker room. As long as he could get his car keys from his locker, he’d be able to sneak out of the building easily enough. He had enough of his spark left to easily use his invisibility spell, but he couldn’t do it in a busy area. Luckily, the locker room was empty, and he was able to get in and out without being seen.

Once he got in the car, he called Deaton and Laura, and was glad to see both their cars when he parked in the back of Deaton’s clinic. Stiles sat in his car for a minute after he shut it off and stared at his hands. The markings weren’t particularly bad looking, but they were definitely red and noticeable. Stiles wondered idly if the color would fade or if they would permanently stay that color.

“Stiles?”

He glanced up and saw Laura and Deaton standing cautiously next to his car door. When had they come out of the building? Laura opened his door slowly and Stiles reached down and unclipped his seatbelt.

“I don’t think I feel so good,” Stiles said softly before the world tilted and he pitched forwards into Laura’s arms.

*

When Stiles woke up, the first person he saw was Melissa. “Oh no, how did I end up in the hospital?” Stiles moaned out. He looked around and saw that he was actually still in Deaton’s clinic. “Or…?”

“Hush, sweety,” Melissa said, reaching out to touch his forehead. “Deaton just wanted me to check on you.”

“I’m perfectly good at first aid, but humans aren’t actually my specialty,” Deaton said as he stepped up beside Melissa with a small smile.

Stiles continued to look around and saw Laura sitting down on a chair, holding his hand. Black lines were running up her arms from where she was holding his hand.

“How bad is it?”

“I think Kira caused some minor internal damage,” Melissa said. “But we’re monitoring that, and you’ve got an IV for fluids. And it’s really handy that Laura can handle the pain killers.”

“Yea, thanks Laura. I couldn’t feel my hand before… but there’s definitely feeling there now.”

“Mmmm,” Laura said. “I can tell.”

Stiles shifted slightly. “Can I sit up?” Melissa nodded and helped Stiles move into a sitting position. “Oh, everything aches,” Stiles said, a hand coming up to his head.

Melissa continued to check a few different things. Deaton came back after a few minutes, "I spoke to Noshiko," he said. "Kira is doing fine, and they are very grateful that you were able to contain everything so no one at the school knew what was going on."

Laura looked up, "Stiles your dad is here. Deaton, he parked out front."

Deaton nodded and went to open the front door. John rushed in and hugged Stiles tightly. Stiles hugged back tightly, noting that Laura shifted her hand so that it was touching his skin just under his shirt near his waist. He was grateful, because even with her draining the pain away he was still uncomfortable.

"You're really okay?" John asked, pulling back slightly to look at Stiles.

"Yea, dad, I am. I mean, I'm hurting and might've been scarred," he shifted, "here look at this."

His dad took his arm in both hands and turned it over. "It looks like you were struck by lightning," he marveled.

"He basically was," Deaton commented.

"Shit, Stiles," John said, hugging Stiles tightly again.

"I know, dad, I know. But I'm okay, I promise."

"Stiles, you're hooked up to an IV in the back of a vet's clinic, and I'm pretty sure that Laura is draining the pain out of you as we speak," John protested, pulling back to look at Stiles again.

Stiles eyes shifted between Laura and Melissa, the presence of both attesting to the fact that he actually wasn't completely okay.

"Alright, you've got a point there," Stiles admitted. "But I will be okay, right Melissa?"

Melissa nodded as Laura looked up again, this time turning toward the back door. "Derek is here," she said tiredly.

"Does draining my pain hurt you?" Stiles asked, suddenly, noticing Laura's pale face.

She pursed her lips and nodded slightly. "Not much, but the longer we do it the more of a toll it takes. Derek is going to take over, though, okay?"

The door opened and Derek strode straight to Stiles. As he approached, John stepped to the side slightly so Derek could hug Stiles. Derek started draining Stiles' pain as soon as he had him in his arms and Stiles tucked his face into Derek's neck.

After a moment of Derek and Stiles just holding each other tightly, John made eye contact with with Laura behind Derek’s back. She smiled slightly at him, waved faintly, and he nodded.

*

Stiles settled onto the couch carefully. His dad had called the school and told them he had an accident and that he’d be out of school for the rest of the week. They had all discussed what excuse to use since Stiles’ scar was really obvious, and there hadn’t been any storms lately so they could claim he’d been struck by lightning. They finally decided to say he was in a car accident and had burned his hand, and he’d walk around with a bandage on his hand for a few weeks.

He pulled out his phone and texted Miguel, Abuelita Araceli’s grandson, since she never looked at the cell phone her family had bought her. “ _One of my friends is a kitsune and she just manifested her powers while at school. I shielded her from everyone by absorbing her electricity into myself until we could get to her mom to help her. I’m ok but it sucked_.”

Stiles reached over and popped a couple more tylenol from the bottle on the coffee table and downed half a water bottle. His hand and arm didn’t hurt as much anymore, but his whole body still ached.

His phone started buzzing and he answered the video call from Miguel.

“Qué hiciste?” Araceli basically shouted at him. “Intentaste absorber un kitsune?”

Stiles winced, “Please don’t yell, Abuelita. I just did what I had to.”

“But she could have killed you!” Araceli continued to shout. “Do you know what thunder kitsune can do? And you just grabbed her and absorbed all that electricity?”

“We were in school!” Stiles retorted. “It’s not like I could have redirected it into the sky! People would have seen! Plus she was just manifesting for the first time. Her mom said she wouldn’t have her full power yet. And I couldn’t let people see her!”

“Pero podrías haber muerto, mi chispacito. You could have died.”

“I know, Abuelita, but I didn’t.”

“Show me where you touched her.”

Stiles reluctantly held up his hand. The red of the lightning scarring hadn’t faded at all, but Melissa said it was possible that it would fade over the next few weeks or months.

“How far up does the scarring go?” Miguel asked, leaning closer to the screen.

Stiles shifted so his whole arm was visible. “Most of it stops halfway to my elbow, but there’s one streak that goes almost to my armpit.”

“Do you know what would have happened if it traveled just a little further to your heart?” Araceli asked quietly.

“Melissa said my heart probably would have stopped,” Stiles answered just as softly. “I know, Abuelita. Everyone here has already yelled at me. Deaton said it was probably only my Spark that slowed Kira’s electricity down enough to not kill me instantly, but he did remind me, several times, that having a Spark doesn’t make me invulnerable.”

“Of course it was only your Spark that slowed the electricity. You burned up your Spark to stop it. How did you feel right after it happened?”

Stiles swallowed. “My arm was numb for hours, and I passed out as soon as I got to Laura.”

She nodded finally. “You probably didn’t drain your Spark entirely then. You were likely in shock as well as feeling more drained than you have before, which caused your body to shut down to recover.”

“I definitely don’t want to do anything like that again,” Stiles said. “But… how come it worked? Noshiko, Kira’s mom, who is like 900 by the way, she said it shouldn’t have worked.”

Araceli was quiet for a minute. “I want to give you the benefit of the doubt,” she said eventually, “but honestly I think it might have been sheer dumb luck. Our magic is obviously different from a kitsune’s magic… so I supposed yours neutralized the small amounts that your friend was putting out. But if it had been this Noshiko you tried it with…”

“She would have fried me,” Stiles concluded, glancing up when there was a knock at the door. “Hey Abuelita, someone’s at my door so I’ve got to go, okay?”

“Bien,” she said with a sigh, “Se mas cuidadoso.”

“I will be careful, Abuelita, I promise.” Stiles hung up the phone and tucked it into his pocket while he stood up slowly. “I’m coming,” he called to whoever was at the door. He could feel that it wasn’t a pack member, but he figured there were any number of people who could be coming by for a normal reason. He pulled the sleeve of his hoodie down so it covered his arm again and opened the door. “Mr. Yukimura,” Stiles said in surprise.

“Hi Stiles,” he said with a small smile. “And you can call me Ken outside of the building.”

“Oh, alright, um, what can I do for you Ken?”

“I brought you some homework,” he said with an apologetic smile, “but I also wanted to thank you for helping Kira.”

Stiles nodded and stepped aside, “Why don’t you come in?”

*

“Isaac be careful with those chairs!” Erica said with a loud laugh. “You almost hit the light!”

“Well you try to figure out how to fit 18 chairs in this room!”

“I keep saying we should have a kid’s table,” James joked as he came into the room carrying more chairs.

“You be quiet or I’m going to throw one of these chairs at you,” Erica said while pointing a finger at him threateningly.

“Guys, Derek said we’ll all fit, so we will!” Stiles said as he shifted chairs around. “We just have to figure out how.”

“Well if Derek knows how this is supposed to work, then why isn’t he helping us?” Erica asked with a whine.

“Because it’s his birthday and he doesn’t need to,” Stiles replied. “We should be able to figure out how to fit all these chairs around the table. It shouldn’t be too complicated.”

“But somehow it is,” James laughed.

“Try putting two at each end,” Chris said dryly as he walked into the room followed by Allison and Victoria.

“And I think those two benches should be pulled up to the table over there,” Victoria said, pointing behind Erica. “They look like they can each sit two people comfortably.”

Erica, Isaac, James, and Stiles all let out “ooooooh” sounds as they realize what they had been doing wrong.

“Thanks,” they all chorused as they started moving chairs around again.

“You guys can go into the living room,” Stiles said, waving in that direction, “that’s where the rest of the people are hanging out while we get ready.”

Erica reached out and grabbed Allison’s arm, “But you can help us.”

Allison grinned as her parents left the room and she went over to help move the benches closer to the table.

“I’ll go see how things are going in the kitchen,” Victoria said while Chris walked into the living room.

“Hey John,” Chris said, shaking hands.

“Chris, do you know Ken and Noshiko?” John asked, gesturing toward the couple as they rose from the couch.

“No, we haven’t met, but I’ve heard you’re Kira’s parents?”

First Ken shook Chris’ hand and then Noshiko did. He jumped slightly as they shook and then grinned, “I deserved that shock, I suppose. Laura explained about our alliance?”

Noshiko nodded and smiled slightly. “It’s a little strange, isn’t it? A pack with a spark, two kitsune, and hunters all joined together.”

Chris chuckled, “A little strange it is. But they keep me on my toes.”

John clapped Chris on the back and laughed, “I always thought that Stiles was a lively one, but he’s really gathered together the perfect group of people for himself.”

“I am glad that there are plenty of other adults,” Chris added. “Are Marco and Cynthia inside cooking?”

John nodded. “You know, I think Laura and Derek are glad about it too,” John admitted. “The two of them were forced to grow up too quickly, but really, they’re still kids.”

Derek laughed as he walked through the front door and came over to join them, “I was just tempted to argue that I really am an adult… but I think anyone who tries to make that argument has already lost.”

Chris and John laughed with him. “How old are you now, Derek?” Chris asked.

“Twenty-three,” Derek said with a small smile, “as of this morning.”

“You know what’s pretty funny?” James asked, coming over to the trio, “If you had stayed in Beacon Hills, you would have actually been in high school with some of the pack.” Derek cocked his head to the side. “I mean, Laura was a sophomore while I was a senior, so we remember each other even though we never really talked, but you would have been a junior when Isaac, Erica, and Boyd started, wouldn’t you?”

“Huh,” Derek said, turning to look at the rest of the pack. He hadn’t actually thought about that. The fire happened during his sophomore year and he finished his GED in New York, but if they had stayed, he would have ended up going to school with some of the pack.

He caught Stiles’ eye across the room and realized that if Stiles hadn’t been left behind in elementary school, and if Derek had stayed in Beacon Hills, that he would have been a freshman while Derek was a senior. _What if, what if, what if_ … Derek shook his head and looked back at James, making sure he was smiling softly, “Wouldn’t that have been something?”


	20. Hunters

Stiles and Danny had spread their books out on the patio table outside so they could study, since it was the first really nice afternoon of the spring. They ordered pizzas and were just starting to figure out what was going to be on the test tomorrow. He'd been feeling anxious all afternoon, but he knew once he got the test prep under control, he'd start feeling better. 

Stiles’ phone pinged and he picked it up and saw the word “ _Hunters”_ from Derek.

He jumped up and suddenly a bullet sped through the book he was holding and he reacted by throwing up his strongest ward around Danny and him. A half dozen more bullets pinged off the ward in the next couple seconds while Stiles cursed like a sailor.

“Through the house,” Stiles said, grabbing Danny’s hand. They ran through the house (Stiles texted furiously while other messages came in from Boyd and Scott, confirming that they were targeted or hit too) and out to Stiles’ car. As they reached the car, two people rounded the back of his house and Stiles shoved at them with his magic, throwing them backward. They both jumped into Stiles’ Jeep, where he put up another ward and peeled out of his driveway.

“Stiles, what the fuck? Are you in a gang?” Danny demanded as Stiles sped down the road.

Stiles glanced at Danny and winced, “Remember sophomore year? When I dated Isaac for a couple weeks?” Danny nodded and Stiles continued, “Shit there’s no way…” Stiles looked over again at Danny and then took one hand off the wheel. He waved it around, causing red sparkles to float around his hand. “I have magic, that’s how I stopped those bullets,” he said quickly. “And Isaac is a werewolf.” Danny just stared silently with his mouth slightly ajar. “I’m pretty sure those guys today were after us because of that. We have a pack, and a couple other people were targeted too. I’m really sorry you were with me tonight, because it’s all my fault that you’re caught up in this.”

“Shit,” Danny muttered. “Is anyone else a werewolf that I know?”

“Boyd,” Stiles said shortly, “remember he used to be on the lacrosse team?”

“Yea, and then he quit for track, right?”

“And Erica. She was in their grade too.”

“No one in our grade?”

Stiles shook his head. He wasn’t going to out Kira now, particularly since she was still a little shy around Jackson and Danny ever since the lacrosse incident. Stiles wondered if she had been targeted by the hunters too, even though she wasn't a werewolf. Although she and Scott were planning to hang out tonight… so maybe she was involved already.

Stiles parked the Jeep and instantly threw up a ward around the house before rushing in. Danny followed him.

“Laura?” Stiles shouted as he opened the door.

“In the kitchen,” Laura’s voice carried through the house.

Stiles rushed back and saw Laura patching up Erica’s shoulder. “They’re regular bullets,” Laura explained before her eyes widened at the sight of Danny trailing behind Stiles. “Stiles?”

“I had to use magic in front of him to stop the hunters that came after us,” Stiles explained with a wave. “I explained a little in the car. Boyd, are you ok?”

Boyd nods, “The bullet went straight through my side. It’s healing already. Erica got clipped twice in the shoulder.”

“And I’m pretty sure one of the bullets is still in there,” Laura said with a frown as she was poking at the wound. “There’s only one exit wound.”

“Here, let me see,” Stiles said. He placed a hand over Erica’s wound and gagged slightly, “God I fucking hate blood. The bullet is still in there. Okay. Okay I can do this.” Stiles focused on the metal and tried to guide it out through the wound in Erica’s shoulder as easily as he could, but it was already healing so that made it harder. “Fuck,” he mumbled as Erica stifled a groan. Laura had her hands on Erica’s shoulder, drawing pain out, but Erica could still apparently feel something.

Boyd was speaking softly to Danny, but Stiles tuned them out. After a couple minutes, the wet bullet fell out of Erica’s shoulder and Stiles sighed and looked up. “Alright. That’s done and I hope I don’t ever have to do something like that again.”

“Thanks, Batman,” Erica whispered tiredly.

Stiles wiped his hands off on his pants and went out on the porch and felt for the pack members who weren’t there yet. Derek and Isaac were approaching, but still kind of far away.

Laura came out and put her hand on his shoulder. That helped him to sense Derek and Isaac and the rest of the pack better. Her Alpha bond to them amplified Stiles’ bond and allowed him to get a better sense of everyone.

She was on the phone checking in with each pack member - Cynthia and James weren’t targeted as far as they knew, and they were both still at home. He put up the individual wards around them, just to be on the safe side.

“How long can you hold them?” She asked.

He gritted his teeth, “Long enough. Walk with me,” Stiles said as he walked to the border of the ward. Laura trailed behind with her hand still on his shoulder. As Derek’s car approached, Stiles parted the ward physically by throwing his arms wide and then slamming it shut again after Derek parked. He was panting by the end of it, but he rushed over to the car. He was on Derek’s side and he got to Derek as he stepped out of the car.

“I’m fine,” Derek growled out, “I’m almost healed. Isaac was hit bad though.”

Laura was already around Isaac's side and she lifted him out of the car and ran with him into the house.

“You’re still bleeding,” Stiles observed as his hands flitted from one bloody spot to another on Derek.

“Most of it is Isaac’s blood,” Derek said, gripping Stiles’ hands so they stop roving over his body. “What about everyone else?”

“Boyd and Erica should be healed by now. They were hit with regular bullets. You and Isaac too?”

Derek grunted and nodded as he looped one arm over Stiles’ shoulder and limped as they walked toward the house. “I was hit twice in the thigh,” Derek admitted, “but they got Isaac in the chest two or three times. I wasn’t sure. I just threw him into the car and took off. It’s healing already, so it’s clearly just regular bullets.”

Stiles nodded quickly. “They came after me and Danny, remember we were studying?” Derek’s eyes widened as he darted a glance at Stiles. “We’re fine. I blocked all the bullets. But Danny’s here.”

“You told him?”

“Yea. Not the full story because I was driving like a lunatic and trying to make sure everyone was still alive, but I’m hoping that Boyd caught him up a bit so he’s not freaking out too much.”

“Just let me sit here,” Derek said as they reached the steps. “Going up them would hurt like hell and I think I just need another ten or fifteen minutes before I’m good again.”

“How’s everyone inside?”

“Erica and Boyd are all good,” Derek confirmed. “And it sounds like Danny is helping Laura with Isaac.” Derek cocked his head to the side, “I’m pretty sure Isaac just hit on Danny, so he must be feeling better.”

“Good,” Stiles nodded before returning his attention to the bonds. Cynthia and James still felt strong and calm. “Laura I know you’re busy. Who didn’t you get to yet? Derek and I will keep checking on them.”

Derek pulled out his phone. “You call your dad and I’ll call Scott,” Derek said, relaying Laura’s words from inside the house.

“What about Allison?” Stiles asked.

Derek froze for a moment. While Allison was technically pack, her family were still hunters, and if there were other hunters in town, she should definitely know. “Laura’s calling Chris right now,” Derek answered.

Stiles nodded and pulled out his phone finally. The pack group text had lit up, but now that everyone was just about accounted for he was glad to see that he hadn’t gotten any new messages in a couple minutes.

“Stiles are you ok?” Was his dad’s opening.

“Yea, dad, are you?”

“Yea. All the on-duty deputies are all over town with reports of gun-shots. How’s everyone?”

“Healing. The hunters are using regular bullets so they aren’t doing any permanent damage.”

“Where the fuck is Chris? Isn’t he supposed to handle this type of thing?”

“Scott and Kira are pinned down,” Derek snapped out.

Stiles whirled and threw up his strongest ward around them, hoping that Scott was actually near his focus. He felt as Kira’s lightning instantly crackled along the ward and he gritted his teeth, glad that the pain wasn't actually touching him this time. Feeling it on his ward wasn’t as bad as actually getting electrocuted, but the power sizzled along the connection between himself and the ward and he groaned.

“That’s better,” Derek said, eyeing Stiles carefully. “He said the bullets stopped. Melissa is at the hospital, luckily, but him and Kira are surrounded at his house.”

“Fuck,” Stiles said. “Dad, do you have deputies near Scott’s house? Apparently he’s surrounded and I can’t do anything beside ward them.”

“Yea, just a block or two away,” his dad said, “hold on.” He spoke into his comm and Stiles sighed when he heard the officers confirm that they were heading to Scott’s address. Stiles didn’t know how determined the hunters were, but hopefully they’d disperse if a few cop cars showed up. Stiles took a minute to hope that he hadn’t just sent his dad’s officers into harm's way. They didn’t know what they were doing--other than their jobs.

Laura stepped out onto the porch and immediately put her hand onto Derek’s shoulder, and Stiles watched as black streaks ran up her arm. “Chris is on his way,” she said. She reached out for Stiles, who immediately put her hand into hers, reaching down to grasp onto Derek’s hand as well.

“Drop Scott’s ward,” Derek said quickly and Stiles complied, dropping the ward with a sigh of relief. “He said it looks like the cops scared away the hunters. He and Kira ran out the back door so they wouldn’t have to talk to the deputies. He also texted his mom so she’ll know he’s okay. He said the house is fucked though. They’re on their way here.”

The three of them just held each other for a moment before Laura asked, “Stiles, how are you?”

Stiles shrugged but grimaced. “I’ll be fine,” he answered shortly. “Dropping Scott’s ward helped a lot actually. Kira electrocuted me, by accident, I think. I can hold Cynthia and James all night if I need to.”

“No, I don’t want you drained. We need you at full strength in case anything else happens,” Laura said.

“I’ll go get them,” Derek started, preparing to stand.

“You haven’t finished healing yet,” Laura said, pushing her brother back down.

“I’ll go,” Stiles offered. “I can hold the wards around the house no problem. And once I get to Cynthia and James I’ll be able to drop their wards so they drain me less.”

Laura shook her head, “I want you here, so you can take care of everyone.” She squeezed Stiles' shoulder. “I’ll go, and I’ll let you know when you can drop the wards.”

Derek and Stiles exchanged a look before glancing back up at Laura, “You’re sure?”

She nodded. “I’ll see if Boyd is ready. He can come with me.”

She went back instead and Stiles looked down at Derek. “How’s your leg?”

Derek stretched it out with the slightest of grimaces. “It stopped bleeding, I’m pretty sure. But Laura’s right. I probably shouldn’t put weight on it yet.”

“I wish I could draw your pain out, like Laura was,” Stiles said, reaching down to squeeze Derek’s shoulder like Laura had been doing.

Derek smiled faintly up at Stiles. “Having you here is good enough,” he said, placing a hand over Stiles’ hand. A minute later, Laura and Boyd came out of the house, waved at the pair, and got into Laura’s car. Stiles lifted the ward for them and secured it back in place after they left. After another minute, Derek lifted his head again, “I’m pretty sure that’s Kira’s motorcycle.”

“Alright, I’ll go check.” Stiles started walking towards the ward and turned to point at Derek as he walked, “You stay there.”

Stiles waited at the boundary of the ward, and when he saw that it was Kira and Scott riding up on her motorcycle, he opened the ward for them and then slammed it back down like he had when Derek drove in. He rubbed at his chest, not liking the sudden sense of dread that had bloomed.

Kira drove right past him and parked near where Derek was sitting on the stoop. Stiles forced a grin and gave Derek a thumbs up when he saw that he was still seated.

“We’re okay!” Scott shouted as he pulled his helmet off. “What’s going on?”

“New hunters,” Derek said shortly, “Stiles--”

Both Derek and Stiles clutched at their chests suddenly. Stiles ran to Derek and grabbed his hand. “Laura’s hurt,” Stiles said and Derek nodded. Stiles focused on the bond with Laura and focused all his remaining spark on her, putting up his strongest ward,.

“She’s not answering,” Derek said, looking down at his phone. Then he looked up suddenly, “Someone is coming. It sounds like a truck… but it’s not Chris.”

“Shit,” Stiles said. “Scott, Kira, get inside.” Stiles reached out for the ward and with a hooking gesture, pulled it so that it was closer to the house and smaller. It would be easier to maintain this way because it would draw on less magic.

“Boyd is on the phone,” Derek said quietly. “They just left Cynthia’s. She’s on the phone with James. The hunters pinned them down just a block from James’ apartment. He’s making his way to them.”

Stiles nodded and dropped Cynthia’s ward. “Tell me when James is there. He won’t be able to get into Laura’s ward right now. And when I let him in, I’ll have to drop all the wards for a second.”

Derek nodded and after half a minute he said, “Now,” and Stiles nodded, dropping all the wards and then slamming Laura’s back into place a few seconds later. “Wait. I think Chris just showed up there. Hey James,” Derek’s eyes widened as he listened, then he glanced up at Stiles and put the phone on speakerphone.

“--stopped shooting when they saw the bullets bouncing off Stiles’ ward. Chris looks like he’s about to start breathing fire. That’s not like a thing, right?” James was talking quietly but nonstop. “Alright he’s yelling at them about bringing the cops down on them. He lives here. Blah blah. He won’t put his neck out for them since they didn’t follow protocol and check in with him first. He would have cleared us as non-threats, oh that’s nice, I suppose.”

“James,” Stiles interrupted, leaning in. “How’s Laura?”

“They shot her a few times, but… I know you said we heal quickly but I’ve never seen how fast we heal from a bullet wound… but she doesn’t seem to be healing yet. What, Boyd? How do you know what wolfsbane smells like?”

“Shit,” Derek cursed fiercely. “They waited for her to come out and used the wolfsbane bullets on her.” Derek looked up at Stiles, “You kill the Alpha, you cripple the pack in the ensuing confusion.”

“James, does Chris look like he’s winning the hunters over? I might need to drop your ward soon.” Stiles was squinting at the lights he could now see coming down the road. Whoever Derek had heard earlier was finally getting close.

“I think so, but he also hasn’t really acknowledged us yet,” James responded.

“Alright, we might get busy in a second here since there’s a truck pulling up,” Derek said quickly. “Without making the situation worse, you need to get one of the hunter’s bullets. If you tell Chris that Laura was shot, he will help, but you need to make it clear to him.”

“I just texted him too,” Stiles said. He glanced down at Derek, “Your leg?”

Derek pulled on Stiles’ hand and rose up, bending and stretching his leg a few times. “I’m good. Maybe no sprinting for a bit, but I’m good.” Stiles nodded and tugged on Derek’s hand and took the few steps to the new boundary of the ward. “When did it get this close?” Derek whispered.

“Closer means smaller ward means less energy,” Stiles gritted out.

“Stiles?” Derek asked, pulling Stiles around slightly so he could look into his face. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Stiles shook his head. “I’m fine. This is just a lot.” He glanced down at their joined hands. “This helps,” he said with a small grin.

Derek squeezed Stiles’ hand as two trucks pulled up. They parked sharply at the edge of the treeline, each facing sideways so they were horizontal to the house. Stiles threw his hand up and made the part of the ward in front of him and Derek solid.

A man stood up from the back of the pickup bed, holding a gun pointed at the ground between their groups. Another man in his truck stood but didn’t raise his gun while two other men in the other truck rose and pointed their guns at the ground.

“Chris Argent spoke for you,” the first man said, his voice carrying easily across the distance. “He promises that the werewolves are not a threat. Is he right?”

Stiles let go of Derek’s hand gently and stepped through the ward, colors rippling visibly around him as he passed through it. He thought lumos as he walked and instead of having the ball conjure in his hand, he infused the light throughout his body, making it look like he was glowing from within. He noted with interest that the lightning scars along his arm pulsed black in contrast with the light glowing from within him.

“Chris said, specifically, that the werewolves are not a threat?” Stiles asked, emphasizing the word “werewolf” as he walked. He ignored Derek calling his name quietly. “He specified, did he? The wolves, in particular, aren’t dangerous? NO MENTION OF ME?” His voice rose as he continued walking towards the trucks, and by the time he said “ME” he was shouting, using a small bit of his spark to increase the volume of his voice to an unnatural pitch.

The men in the trucks were slowly picking their guns up as he walked until they were pointed at his chest. “You started this,” Stiles said and waved his hand, ripping each gun a few feet higher in the air. One man didn’t let go quickly enough and he was lifted several feet up before he let go and fell back down to the truck bed.

“You shot my pack,” pieces of the guns disassembled and fell onto the men’s heads.

“You shot them with regular bullets just to hurt them and flush out my Alpha,” the engines of the trucks shut off suddenly.

“You shot my Alpha,” Stiles snarled, “with wolfsbane.” All the bullets from each hunter's gun rose up slowly into the air until they were all approximately eye-height with the hunters.

“You should have listened to Chris. None of the werewolves would hurt you except in self-defense.”

“And you?” The man who had first spoken asked. He looked just as scared as the other hunters, but he was trying to work past it.

“Laura wants to maintain the peace,” Stiles said, coming to a halt about six feet away from the leader’s truck. “My Alpha. Who you shot with wolfsbane.” The bullets started to slowly swirl around each hunter’s head. The three who hadn’t spoken yet tried to watch the path of the bullets while the one man who had spoken kept his eyes on Stiles. “She wants to maintain peace, so that’s what I will do.”

The leader held up his hand and caught several of the bullets that were floating around his head. As they hit his hand, Stiles released the magic that was holding them. The man looked down at them as they rested in his palm and then gently tossed them towards Stiles. They landed in the grass near his feet.

“Those have the wolfsbane you’ll need to heal her,” the leader said quietly. He glanced at the rest of his men. “We didn’t know there was a Spark here.”

“Another truck is coming,” Derek called from inside the ward.

Stiles let the glow that was still infusing him fade a little. “I’ve said this to Chris before, and I’ll say it to you too: be grateful that we don’t follow the same code you do.”

The leader swallowed and nodded.

Chris’ truck came into the clearing and Stiles dropped the entire ward around the house as he drove up, refusing to sway from the sudden relief of dropping the ward. Derek rushed forward the instant he could and helped James get Laura into the house. Stiles swept up the bullets and sent them flying towards the house.

Chris watched them for a moment and then walked toward Stiles who was still glowing faintly. “The werewolves are not a threat?” Stiles asked Chris.

Chris shrugged and gave a slight smile. “Am I wrong?”

Stiles shook his head. “Can we trust them to leave?”

Instead of answering, Chris turned towards the leader. “Well, Phil? The pack’s Emissary wants to know if he can trust you not to come back.”

“You’re the Emissary? But you’re just a kid!”

Stiles squinted and reached out for the truck and his Spark surged through him, traveling to the truck which promptly started rising up in the air. “That wasn’t the answer I was hoping for. I thought I had done enough demonstrations for you lot.”

“Those were just demonstrations?” One of the previously silent men from the other truck asked as he stared in horror at the other truck hovering about six feet off the ground.

Stiles scowled at him. “What did you think they were? If I were actually trying to hurt you, you’d be dead. I wouldn’t have wasted time on all of the showy shit.” He turned back to the leader and let his truck lower slowly to the ground. “Alright, let’s try this again. I want you to leave. Laura wants you to leave. Since she’s currently dealing with the after-effects of getting fucking shot and poisoned, I’m speaking for her. The Hale Pack of Beacon Hills wants you all to leave and never come back here.”

Phil glanced at his companions briefly before nodding. “You have my word. We’ll leave immediately, and won’t come back again, unless there’s an absolute necessity, and then we’ll contact Chris first. Is that acceptable?”

Stiles nodded and flicked his fingers. The trucks turned back on with a loud revving of the engine. “You can leave now.”

Phil nodded to the two drivers of the trucks. The standing people all sat and the trucks took off.

Chris and Stiles stood and watched until they were gone. “The rest of them?” Stiles asked.

“They’re waiting out of town for this group to meet up with them. They’ll all leave now. Victoria is with your dad catching him up on everything. The last I heard, none of the deputies were hurt.”

Stiles nodded a few times before reaching out and putting a hand on Chris’ shoulder. “Hey Chris, how strong are you feeling?”

Chris turned, cupping Stiles’ elbow as his eyes raised in confusion, before Stiles collapsed. Chris cursed as he tried to catch Stiles, and after a few seconds of scrabbling, managed to get him over his shoulder.

Boyd ran out of the house and came to Chris, “Let me take him,” Boyd said and Chris gladly handed Stiles off.

*

Stiles woke up a few hours later on the couch. He shifted and smiled when he saw that his head was resting on Laura’s lap.

“Hey there sleepyhead,” she said with a tired grin. “How are you feeling?”

Stiles shifted a little and looked around. It looked like most of the pack was in their living room. “Pretty groggy,” Stiles replied, sitting up and rubbing his head. “How are you? How is everyone else?”

“We’re all good,” Laura replied, “thanks to you.”

Stiles let out a small laugh, “Good. Laura I’m tapped.”

“Well then we finally found your limit,” Deaton said, walking into the living room. “Here, drink this,” Deaton said, handing Stiles a glass of thick green liquid. “You’ll probably hate it.” Stiles grimaced but raised the glass to his lips. It was pretty terrible but he still drained the cup. “I’ll get you more. It’s going to help your Spark refill faster.”

Stiles tried to grin, but knew it probably looked more like a grimace. Derek walked into the room, tucking his phone away before sitting down next to Stiles and pulling him close. Stiles sighed happily and crawled into Derek's lap. He was too tired to care about maintaining distance or appearances and just snuggled into Derek’s neck as Derek wrapped his arms tightly around Stiles' back.

“I called your dad and let him know you’re awake,” Derek said quietly. “He’s still working clean-up. He said he’s not surprised that you sent all the hunters running away with their tails behind their legs.”

Stiles sat up a little even though he still stayed within Derek’s arms. “Where’s Danny? How’s he handling everything?”

“He’s asleep. It’s almost 3 in the morning,” Laura replied. “He’s been pretty good. Boyd was explaining things pretty well, and then Scott and Kira came and helped out. They said he relaxed a lot more once Scott showed up.”

“Really,” Derek said, pulling Stiles back down a little more and rubbing his back, “everyone is fine.”

Deaton came back and handed Stiles another drink. After he swallowed that one down he asked, “Deaton, you got any feedback?”

Deaton smirked as he took the empty cup back. “Can I be there when Araceli chews you out? I’m pretty sure she has strong opinions about draining your Spark.” Stiles blushed and Deaton chuckled as he continued, “But based on everything that the pack told me, you did an exemplary job of keeping everyone as safe as possible while also effectively making a point to the hunters to convince them to take you seriously and to leave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Folks this is almost the end! Eeeeeeeeeee I've enjoyed this so much and THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who commented and gave kudos so far <3 <3 <3


	21. Epilogue

“I’m still impressed that we fit this many people in the house,” John mused, looking around. Stiles had insisted that they invite the whole pack to his graduation party. John hadn’t fought him on the idea so much as doubted that they’d be able to comfortably fit everyone inside, but somehow, it was working.

Stiles had been flitting between groups of people, happily talking to everybody. He kept returning to Araceli and Miguel, who had flown in and were staying in the guest rooms in Laura’s house while they were here. Every time Stiles was within reach, Araceli would reach out and brush her fingers along his scarred arm, and while Stiles didn’t react much the first few times, after the sixth or seventh time, he held up his hand and actually studied it, “You’re lightening it?”

“I’m just speeding up your natural healing a little,” she replied. “It’ll always be there, but it won’t be quite as stark against your pale skin.”

Stiles grinned and then threw his arms around her shoulders, “Gracias Abuelita.”

“Stiles,” Scott called from across the room, “come settle a bet for me and Isaac.”

Stiles laughed and went over to where his friends were perched on the couch. “What’s up?”

“So we were just laughing about how so many people in the pack hooked up or dated,” Scott said with a wide grin. “Do you think anyone else will ever get together?”

Stiles smirked and looked between Isaac and Scott, “Yea, guys, I think at least two more people will.”

“Oh yea?” Isaac asked with his signature smirk, “Who?”

Stiles shrugged, “Life needs some mysteries, still, right?”

He caught Derek’s eye from across the room and tracked him as he walked into the kitchen. Stiles made his way slowly through the crowded room, chatting with everyone he walked past until he finally got into the kitchen, which was relatively quiet.

Derek grinned when he saw that Stiles had managed to make it into the room and reached out his hand, pulling Stiles in slightly when he laced their fingers together.

“You want to get some fresh air?” Derek asked quietly and Stiles nodded.

Stiles followed Derek out onto the porch, reveling in the fact that they could hold hands now, that they were allowed to hold hands, and be seen holding hands.

They just stood and breathed in the cool night air for a minute before Derek turned to Stiles. “I have news,” Derek started, “that could be good… but I wanted to talk to you before I made a decision.”

Stiles grinned. Derek looked almost nervous as he was speaking, so Stiles squeezed his hand. “What is it?”

“I got a job offer today,” Derek said, looking down at their joined hands, “from a high school in Palo Alto.”

Stiles’ jaw dropped. “Palo Alto? As in… the next town over from Stanford?” Derek nodded, smiling shyly up at Stiles. “Oh my god, Derek, are you coming to Stanford with me?”

“If it’s okay with you,” Derek replied softly. Stiles threw his arms around Derek’s shoulders and Derek wrapped his around Stiles’ waist reflexively.

“God, yes, yes, that’s perfect,” Stiles said breathlessly as Derek lifted Stiles up and spun in a slow circle. “Derek?”

Derek picked his head up from where it had been buried in Stiles’ neck. “Yea?” His grin was so wide it was almost blinding.

“Kiss me?”

Derek’s grin brightened even further before he lowered Stiles gently to the floor. He dropped his head until he could brush his lips across Stiles’ gently. Stiles let out a soft sigh before deepening the kiss, his hands cradling the back of Derek’s head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg this is it!
> 
> I have a ton of ideas for continuing this, but they're basically all just disjointed random scenes of Stiles and Derek living together... so I might add some random scenes afterwards, but this is the end of this story arc <3 <3 <3
> 
> THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE WHO READ AND COMMENTED I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOO MUCH


End file.
